London is so cool (cooler than my beloved NYC, perhaps… but I say that quietly).

This past month, we missed the London Festival of Architecture (LFA2008), self-described as a biennial “celebration and exploration of the city’s buildings, streets and spaces.”  And what a celebration it is!  250,000 attended, and thousands more enjoyed the sight of large-scale street installations, exhibitions of music, art and dance, parties, talks and more.  

At the core of the event is an ongoing discussion about how architecture impacts the environment and can make London a better place to live and work.

Marvelous.  But what a lost opportunity for Kraft (yes, that came out of the blue)!

One of the festival’s highlights is surely the Architectural Jelly Competition, where firms compete in the hopes that their entry will be named the best building made from fresh fruit gelatin. 

Tokion Liu won the Fresh Flower Jelly award for its movable pavilion designed for the festival’s own events.  Another firm entered a jellified version of the London Millennium Bridge. Here is a picture of it (see right):

Banquet attendees were encouraged to come dressed as a “trifle or tasty dessert,” and jelly wrestling was on the agenda.  Perhaps the wrestling was choreographed to the competition’s soundtrack created from the sound of wobbling gelatin.

So what am I trying to say??

The 2010 Architectural Jelly Competition brought to you by Jell-O! 

It’d be jellitastic!  A jellextravaganza!

Perhaps many things from childhood could be transformed into something cool as we age.  Goodness knows, I thought my mother’s gelatin molds (with *gag* canned fruit) were jelloffensive, and look at me now!  All hepped up about jello architecture…

Lifebooker.com is a pretty nice idea.  The site says it’s my “personal online concierge” to real-time discounted spa appointments. 

Every woman knows that getting a last-minute spa appointment (let alone finding a good deal) is essentially impossible.  But on Saturday around noon, the site informed me that I could get my eyebrows shaped at 4:30 at Rita Hazan at 15% off, and my guy could get a 50% off man’s mani-pedi at Sunpoint on the same day. 

Great site, especially for us hurried ladies in the big city.  I would add the ability to sort not only be service and time, but also by specific salon or spa.
LifebookerRita Hazan

They’re falling fast.

Mrs. Fields is the latest in-the-middle company to go bankrupt. 

Many of us remember when Debbi Fields burst onto the scene.  The very embodiment of the American Dream, Fields was a 20 year old housewife with zero business experience and an unbelievable cookie recipe.  Since the opening of her first store in Palo Alto in 1977 (where she famously offered free food samples out on the sidewalk), the company grew to over 1,200 franchises, including TCBY locations.

She did, at least at one point, make the best chocolate chip cookie in the world.  But it’s another example of a company that landed solidly in the middle:  it lost its cache at the high end, but remained one of the most expensive cookies on the generic cookie shelf.  Bad place to be.

Mrs. Fields RIP.

I was trying to think of a clever title for this post, but I can’t.  It’s just, well, it’s just gross!  I’ve certainly flagged interesting ads in the past, but this may be the first that made me want to throw up.

Is that a category at Cannes?

I wonder if this will actually sell more rooms…

I think this is very interesting:  apparel retailers are finding that back-to-schoolers and other customers are buying tops, not bottoms.  The theory is that consumers are planning to recycle last year’s still-fashionable skinny jeans, plaid skirts and straight pants and save money by focusing on items worn from the waist up.  An analyst at fashion consulting firm Tobe says, “If you’re sitting at a desk or a table, people notice what you’re wearing on top, not bottom.”

True enough.

I feel as if this may be the first time we’ve seen such a specific buying trend in recent history: one that isn’t about the rush to buy this hot shoe or sweater but is, instead, an across-the -board crafty response to hard times. 

Aeropostale is responding with half-price t-shirts and low-priced sweaters and vests; J Crew is featuring patterned scarves that can be used to dress up last year’s top or jacket. 

I would work very hard to keep bottoms inventories lean, and merchandise both my bricks-and-mortar and online stores to show the many different outfits that could be put together with a customer’s existing pieces and cute new tops.  Consumers aren’t all that creative:  we tend to wear the same things with - well - the same things.  Promote multiple options and usage occasions to help the buyer feel that the piece is worth the investment.
Aeropostale”back to school”shopping

In July, Crain’s New York published a letter written by Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, part of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Representing 100,000 union members in the US and Canada, Appelbaum holds the view that Wal-Mart would be bad for New York because of the company’s history of low wages, problematic benefits and its past tendency to, shall we say, sidestep US labor laws.  The UFCW has been trying to unionize Wal-Mart for years, a topic made all the more topical by a Page One Wall Street Journal story on August 1, “Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win,” which describes mandatory meetings held with store managers and senior staff during which Wal-Mart HR predicts the apocalypse if Obama wins. 

At the end of June, the NLRB ruled that Wal-Mart had broken the law when it fired an employee who supported the UFCW and threatened to withhold pay increases for those employees who vote for a union.

So I certainly wasn’t surprised to see a rebuttal of sorts in the paper’s Letters to the Editor section last week - I was, however, surprised to see that the response was written by… Wal-Mart!  More specifically, the blurb was written by a lobbyist for Wal-Mart.

Whatever you think of Wal-Mart - even if you support Wal-Mart coming to New York - I thought this was sort of amusing.  Sort of like asking me to read a letter the big bad wolf wrote to the three little pigs assuring them that everything would be ok, or a quick note penned by the old woman to Hansel and Gretel.  Of course Wal-Mart is going to feel differently. Wouldn’t there be something wrong with them if they didn’t?

So why would a reputable paper bother?  And even if there’s an answer to that (and I freely admit that there might be), why would Wal-Mart bother?  For me as a consumer and businessperson, such a completely unnecessary action smacks of smarminess and a shove-it-down-your-throat, can’t-let-it-go attitude.  Pay attention to your CEO, H. Lee Scott.  He was right.  And even if you’re still working on good ol’ New York - be a little smarter about it, huh?
Walmart

There is a blog at photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com, where folks send in photos that have clearly been butchered at the hands of a dangerous individual wielding Adobe Photoshop software, along with their own captions.  It’s pretty funny.

Check it out.  Here’s one - can you detect the missing body part?

“Summer Rayne Oakes (warning: stripper name) is that most mundane of species, a stunningly beautiful environmental scientist who helps injured kittens against the the decepticons, or something equally unlikely. Because of global warming she frequently has to take off her clothes, as shown here in Austria’s Weekend magazine. Her belly button is currently in Sweden accepting the Nobel prize for narcissism.” (Caption by Anna K copied from here.)
**** 

“A charming piece of ethnic cleansing by The Sun”

Marketing Observations Daily is on hiatus during the week of August 4-8.
Happy Summering!
- Stephanie Fierman

I am watching a movie on the Lifetime Network called “A Job To Kill For.”  Sean Young plays the head of an ad agency who takes on a promising young protege.  Unfortunately, the girl is a murderous psycho.  So far she’s killed two people, and it’s not looking good for that uncooperative creative director.

This has me thinking about the mentor-mentee relationship and how many of these movies are out there.  I think I saw one with Sherilyn Finn, one with Billy Moses (or I am thinking about the one where he played a professor who kills a female student?) and one with Lara Flynn Boyle, at the very least.  Then there’s also Nicole Kidman’s “To Die For,” probably the poster child for the “I’ll do anything for this job” genre.

What do these movies say about power?  What deep emotional vein are these flicks trying to tap into?  Is it, “You don’t want power because it makes everyone else want to kill you?” or, conversely, that to make it up the ladder you might have to bump off a couple co-workers?  Hmmm….
Sean YoungNicole Kidman

Every week’s AdAge has a “Creativity” feature in the back that highlights some of the more interesting work from around the world.

This week, the trade featured an amazing outdoor execution that Leo Burnett created to remind you that McDonald’s is a great place for breakfast.

What - you’ve never seen a giant egg on a pole before??  Each morning the humungous egg starts cracking and is fully open when it’s time for breakfast, and the yellow yolk inside the egg says “Fresh Eggs Daily.”  The egg stays open from 6am to 10:30am, then it closes and waits for the dawn.  It’s worth clicking HERE to get the full effect.

I think this is fresh (pardon the pun) and fun - it grabs attention, which outdoor has to work extra-hard to do - and delivers the exact message the company intends.  Great!

This stunt made me think that I’d actually seen a few other unusual outdoor treatments recently and, lo and behold, the New York Times has, as well.

Check out this elevator at NYC’s Manhattan Mall decked out to look like a giant Oreo getting dipped into a cold glass of milk!

billboardOreoMcDonalds

Another piece of late 20th-century Americana bites the dust:  Bennigan’s is closing.

The chain was founded in 1976 in Atlanta and grew rapidly in the following two decades.  Home to the Monte Cristo sandwich, it was better known when I was a high school student in Dallas (living in a dry county…) as a cool, dark place where a courteous teenager could probably get drunk.

I agree with the Wall Street Journal’s assessment that this is yet another reflection of the recession’s effect on the in-betweeners, which I’ve written about in the past.  Low-end and high-end dining and retail are doing well, but if you’re in the middle?  Tough sledding.

Bennigan’s R.I.P.

Select Soho House clubs and hotels in NY and the UK are now offering emergency same-day wardrobe service in partnership with NetAPorter.com.  Designer shoes, accessories, dresses… forget - or ruin - something while traveling?  These two premium brands have you covered.

Swing tags in every room will promote “emergency wardrobe” service.

This is so very clever and useful.  Beyond the service’s usefulness, though, I think women will take advantage of it for the fun and the splurge of it, too:  a new dress chosen with your significant other - for a special dinner that same evening in a chic hotel in a chic city - will add to the experience for many.
Soho Housenetaporter.com
  

So this is my fourth post on Starbucks.  And now I realize that even my very first post - in which I defended the company for proposing a new line of kids’ products - was about the company losing focus!

Since then, I’ve gone on to write twice more about how badly the company has wandered off course.  Howard Schultz issued a big mea-culpa and returned as CEO.  In April, he vowed that the company would restore its focus on coffee and jettison distractions like the uber-smelly egg selections at breakfast.  In June, he announced that the company was closing down its music business.  Good.  Coffee and service, coffee and service.  Even if you want to bring in some new products, you need to restore our faith in, well, coffee and service.

One month later, the company has reversed its decision on killing the eggy entries (a new recipe will supposedly kill the stink), even though they generate only 3% of sales, and has launched yet another I’m-on-another-planet creation:  smoothies* (which are already getting lousy reviews).  The company is also closing 600 stores.

So in a recession, when a $4 cup of coffee has to fight extra-hard to survive, Starbucks is keeping an old distraction, starting a new one and putting even more pressure on the employees who remain after the company’s worse blood-letting ever?  What’s next?GAH!  I’m not saying don’t ever experiment again, but is there anything in the last 18 months that suggests that now is the time?

This is truly a case where I wouldn’t be ranting if I didn’t care.  eHarmony is running a TV commercial in which one of its new brides says of her new husband, ”It’s easy to love Lee.”

Well, it’s getting really hard to love Starbucks.

P.S. I need amusement when I’m away from NYC for too long, so I tried a banana chocolate Vivanno last week.  No-go.  I recall that Schultz provided an oblique reference to the pending launch in the profile Portfolio did in its July issue.  He enthused about the incredible-tasting fruit blend from Italy - which makes perfect sense because the nicest thing I would say about the drink is that it has a somewhat sophisticated, unsweet taste that will never make it in the U.S.

USA Today printed a small item today describing a Houston Zoo program that offers free admittance to low-income families for 5 days each year.  That is really great.

The problem is that fewer than 9% of the 80,000 people who take advantage of the offer each day come from low-income zip codes.  The president and CEO of the zoo laments, “We’re not hitting our target market.”

Marketers to the rescue!

I don’t know how the Zoo promotes this program, but you’ve got to go to where the customers are.  How about appointing an advisory board made up of representatives of low-income assistance organizations to help carry the message?  How about mailing tickets to the 85+ low-income medical clinics in the Houston area?  Don’t ask first - just mail.  Build a list:  the Houston Housing Authority, local libraries and HELP Houston Housing for the poor with HIV/AIDs are candidates.  Ask the Houston Electric Company to include tickets in the bills sent to families that take advangate of the Lite Up Texas Electricity Program.  Families must elect to participate, so we have their addresses… 

And this might be too much work, but the Zoo could even mark the tickets sent out (or printed from a secure site) to individual organizations and give an annual grant to the one that has the highest number of tickets redeemed. 

I got a million of ‘em. 

P.S. Not all people feel the same - especially in Texas.  Click here for just a few comments you can find on the web in response to the original article in The Houston Chronicle.

A guy named Richard S’Dao has a 20 year old baby gift business, Silly Phillie Creations, Inc.  I just read a story about his recent launch of a related online concept but, for me, the best part is how he got backing earlier this year.

He cold-called Kodak and spoke to someone.  During his second call, Kodak invited him out to Vegas to pitch the idea at a trade show.  Within a week, S’Dao had $1 million in seed money from Kodak.

The site is owned by S’Dao and his wife.  Kodak gets 100% of the revenue from photo prints a users may want; the S’Daos make money from the albums an individual might purchase to hold them.

Why did this catch my eye?

Twenty years ago, I assumed I’d go directly from college to business school.  When a certain institution accepted me on a deferred admit basis, I suddenly found myself in need of a two-year job.  I still marvel at the fact that I dropped off a resume with the receptionist at KPMG’s headquarters (I had no idea why) - and got a call (and a job) within the week.

Ask. What’s the worse thing that could happen?

“Welcome to the Age of Austerity” is the mega-headline on the front page of this week’s AdAge.  The article details cutbacks at GM, Nissan, Coca-Cola and others: cutbacks that reflect not only fewer dollars (billions) in the marketplace, but also painfull lay-offs.

And so - Mad Men notwithstanding - it was an unfortunate editorial choice to devote an entire page in the same issue to ad agencies’ in-house bars.  The Latest Happy Hour Hotspot:  The Office highlights Arnold’s “roving keg party,” the ping pong table in the bar area at Rivet and the cheap drink tickets at BBDO.  Look at us drink and wear sombreros!  We’re wacky ad people!

I certainly don’t believe this says anything bad about AdAge’s grasp of the recession or its effects, but I do think the last image any of us wants to send is that of a drunken line of agency people doing the bunny hop.  It’s just - dumb.  And even if agencies do have bars (and - in my experience - it’s better than it sounds, most never have time to have a drink at work and it’s no big deal), why show it? 

Maybe I’m alone, but when I turned the page, I cringed.  Poor timing, bad taste.

Tappening has a fresh, new ad campaign highlighting bottled water’s environmental damage in a humorous and insightful way.

Check out the campaign on Ads of the World HERE, and check out the in-depth interview I did with the Men of Tappening HERE on my first blog, Stephanie Fierman - Marketing Mojo.

Launched in November 2007, Tappening is now set to conclude its “Message In A Bottle” campaign by sending 1 million plastic water bottles (originally planned for the front lawn of Coca-Cola’s headquarters) to a recycling center.

This is a most worthy cause, initiated by Eric Yaverbaum and Mark DiMassimo - two worthy ad men who, first and foremost, consider themselves dads interesting in protecting the earth for their own kids.

If you still need your own Tappening bottle, purchase one quickly before they become collector’s items.  Tappening bags are on the way.
tappeningbottled waterMark DimassimoEric Yaverbaum

Does an article in this Saturday’s Wall Street Journal mean that we can stop thinking about Barbie vs. Bratz and starting pitching products to young girls because we think they’re smart?  That would be nice!

The article, “The Secret to Marrying a Billionaire: Brains,” says that, although the media heralds beauty as the key to man-snagging, it appears that many contemporary billionaires believe that finding a smart partner is more important.  Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Michael Dell are all held as examples of men who “married smart.”

Unfortunately, the WSJ article also links to Forbes’ “Billionaire Wives List,” which includes a feature that allows you to check out the chicks ”In Pictures.”

When was the last time you saw one of these lists offer a photo gallery of Steve Schwarzman, Carl Icahn and Vikram Pandit (hey, sexy!)?  I thought not.

Oh well, I’ll be happy for the article and leave it at that today.
Sergey BrinLarry PageMichael Dell

Babycenter, CafeMom, ClubMom… there have always been plenty of websites for moms, but what about us single non-baby-person aunties?  What do we buy, where do we go, what will they like?

A new website, SavvyAuntie, targets us PANKS: Professional Aunts With No Kids Of Their Own.   The site offers blogs, forums and the Auntiepedia.  There is a “digital fridge door” for kids’ artwork, a gift shop and info on kid-friendly restaurants and local activities and events (delivered in partnership with Nickelodeon’s GoCityKids).  It was created by former beauty editor/marketing exec, Melanie Notkin.

An article I read about the ad-suported site points out that PANKS control 85% of their households’ spending, so I hope Melanie makes it.  Because after Serendipity, the Children’s Museum and the Statue of Liberty… we NYC PANKS can go blank pretty quickly!

Ecolect is a super-cool online library of sustainable building materials.  The site, whose primary users are architects and industrial designers, was created last year by two Rhode Island School of Design graduates.  One of the co-founders, Matt Grisby, won the title of Rhode Island Innovation Awards Rising Star Innovator for his role in the creation of Ecolect.

The site highlights materials with sustainable attributes in multiple categories, such as paint, flooring, roofing and tile, and offers case studies that illustrate real-life examples of sustainable design.

Beautiful idea, lovely site.
ecolect