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Our next edition is due on 19 August 2009. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Many thanks!
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We've written about holiday rental houses that let consumers try out stargazing and farming; at the opposite end of the spectrum, perhaps, is a new UK-based project that aims to let them experience world-class architecture instead. Reportedly the brainchild of writer and architectural critic Alain de Botton—and with the Swiss ambassador to the UK on its board of advisors—Living Architecture hopes to offer holiday renters the experience of living, eating and sleeping in a space designed using outstanding architectural practices. Toward that end, it has commissioned established and emerging world-class architects to build houses around the UK. Peter Zumthor, for example, is currently working on a hilltop retreat designed for periods of sustained work and reflection. That house will be on the edge of Dartmoor, according to Building Design, while the "Balancing Barn" in Suffolk—now in the works from Dutch architectural firm MVRDV—will reportedly be the first to be built. Filling out the roster of five are The Long House, Shingle House and In-Between House—designed by Hopkins Architects, NORD Architecture and Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects, respectively. All will be available for holiday rentals beginning in the spring of 2010. Offering a sort of high-end tryvertising along with an educational experience that's sure to create status stories aplenty, the Living Architecture project is in some ways reminiscent of the pop-up Greenhouse by Joost cafe that was erected in Melbourne last year to demonstrate sustainable practices. It's better to show than to tell, as the saying goes—how can *your* brand demonstrate its possibilities in a way that will impress, educate and get consumers talking...? (Related: Test-sleeping for homebuyers.) Website: www.living-architecture.co.uk |
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Applying innovative technology in a rural setting, Indian mobile operator Tata Teleservices is helping farmers monitor and switch on irrigation pumps remotely, using a system dubbed Nano Ganesh. The need for the technology stems from India's erratic power supply; farmers routinely walk several kilometres to water their crops, only to find that there's no electricity available to power their irrigation pumps. Through Nano Ganesh, farmers can dial a code from any phone to a mobile modem attached to the pump's starter. This informs them whether electricity is available, and allows them to remotely switch the pump on or off. Named 'Nano Ganesh', the service—developed by agri-tech firm Ossian Agro—is currently being trialled in two villages in the state of Gujarat. The system is priced at INR 2700 (USD 56) for the wireless device connected to the pump's starter, plus phone costs. Customers can use cell phones they already own, since the system works even with the most basic handsets. Nano Ganesh joins Tata's earlier mobile initiatives delivering educational content and agricultural information to rural communities. With mobile uptake growing quickly, there's a wealth of opportunity for practical ideas like this one. Website: www.nanoganesh.com Spotted by: Murtaza Ali Patel |
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Convincing employees to contribute feedback and to genuinely consider other people's ideas can be a hard-won task for employers. Attempting to turn that challenge into a manageable asset, Idea Exchange is an online tool created to help companies make the most of their employees' collective wisdom. It's basically a virtual suggestion box where users can publish their own suggestions, large or small, and browse ideas submitted by their colleagues. Besides better sharing, there's another big difference between Idea Exchange and a shoebox with a hole in the top—the software lets users support other's ideas by purchasing shares in them. With the incentive of earning 'money', the idea is that employees will more carefully and thoughtfully offer their contributions. Employers can quickly identify favoured ideas by seeing which are being traded and which have the highest stock value. Besides ad hoc submissions to an 'idea bank', Idea Exchange also makes it easy for companies to run competitions to motivate people, and to focus their participation on specific topics or goals. Provided as hosted software, Idea Exchange was developed by Nosco, a young Danish company. One to try out in your own company? Website: www.nosco.dk Spotted by: John Greene |
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Though several of the contests we've written about in recent months have had unconventional purposes—filling a job, for example, or launching a new car—there's no denying that they're still an effective tool for good, old-fashioned promotion. To wit: aiming to celebrate "6 dozen years" of Krispy Kreme, the global doughnut chain is holding a contest that will allow winners to design their own doughnuts. Krispy Kreme's search for its "fave fans" invites doughnut lovers aged 18 and older in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines and the United Kingdom to submit a photo with a 72-word (or less) caption that answers the question, "How has Krispy Kreme made your life special?" The contest deadline is Sept. 15, and a period of public voting will continue through the end of October before winners are announced in early November. A Grand Prize winner from each participating country will get a year's supply of doughnuts, a trip for two to Krispy Kreme's Winston-Salem, N.C., home and a chance to design and name their own doughnut. Following the design period, each winner's doughnut concept will be uploaded onto the official Krispy Kreme Fave Fan website for public voting; the winning doughnut will then be sold at retail in April 2010 as a special edition. Of course, besides simply celebrating the Krispy Kreme brand, this contest also includes a heaping helping of crowdsourcing, giving consumers the much-sought-after chance to have a direct say in the offerings of their favourite doughnut chain. Ask the crowd's opinion, and you can bet ye shall receive—particularly where doughnuts are involved! ;-) Website: www.krispykremefavefan.com |
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Automated phone systems tend to be found primarily in large businesses, owing largely to their expense and the technology that must be installed. FonGenie, on the other hand, targets retail and small businesses with a web-based system that not only handles routine calls but offers sales help and analytics as well. Companies that sign up with FonGenie get access to a website with graphical user interface that's used to type in the automated responses they'd like the system to use to answer calls. The system uses text-to-speech technology so no voice recording is necessary, and menus can be customised on the fly to reflect things like daily specials—such changes can even be made via mobile phone or Twitter. Advanced analytics features, meanwhile, provide a data mining engine that continually monitors every aspect of telephone traffic. Callers’ behaviour is automatically highlighted, with charts and reports showing the number of calls during a particular time frame, the most-listened-to specials and more. The result, FonGenie says, is that businesses can make changes to better serve customers' preferences. FonGenie is best used by service-oriented retailers that receive between 40 and 100 phone calls a day, company founder James Im told VentureBeat, and it typically produces revenue increases of about 15 percent. The California-based service is currently free to use for US companies. While there's no doubt that a timely response by a real human being is still the best option for serving customers, FonGenie could provide a smart runner-up for small businesses that are short on staff. One to try out—or help bring to recession-beleaguered small businesses in the rest of the world? (Related: Online service cuts through phone menus.) Website: www.fongenie.com |
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Letting boys be boys, Hong Kong's Fleming Hotel has launched 'His Space': four rooms dedicated solely to men. Priced at HKD 1,400 (USD 180) a night, the rooms come complete with all manner of boys' toys: games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, an iPod docking station, a mini golf putting green and a variety of DVDs and men's magazines. Male guests can also take advantage of a 50% discount on selected imported beers as well as free local calls, broadband internet and cable television. To top it off, American breakfast, gym access and late checkout are also included in the deal. Website: www.thefleming.com Spotted by: Raymond Kollau |
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Much the way BookOfCooks connects amateur chefs with consumers seeking a home-cooked meal, Plant Concierge is a new site that helps those in need of gardening advice find local experts who can help. Whereas most directories list just professional gardeners, Plant Concierge includes experienced amateurs who may just be available for a few hours per week, for example, but who can still provide the expertise that's needed. Professionals and amateurs alike can register on the site, creating a profile with the geographical area they're willing to serve, photos of their past projects and the types of services they can provide. (Registration is currently free, but ultimately there will be a charge, Plant Concierge says; retail stores can list themselves as well.) Consumers in need of help, meanwhile, can conduct a search on Plant Concierge based on where they live, the type of help they need (advice, maintenance, design or installation) and the types of plants involved—edibles, for example, or lawns and hedges. Profiles and reviews can help consumers choose the gardener they'd like to help them, and all arrangements and payments are negotiated directly by the consumer and the gardener. With growing interest in all things green—and, in particular, urban farming and hyperlocally grown food—there's little doubt there will be plenty of demand from consumers lacking the expertise or time to handle all the gardening themselves. For talented amateur gardeners, meanwhile, it's a golden opportunity to jump on board the sellsumer train and earn a little extra cash. Then, of course, there are sites like Plant Concierge, which stand to win by making this win-win possible. Currently Netherlands-based Plant Concierge serves the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; one to partner with or emulate in other parts of the world...? (Related: More homegrown vegetables, without the sweat — Boosting suburban farms.) Website: www.plantconcierge.com |
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The internet may have given music fans unprecedented access to the world's music, but finding it in any kind of organized way can be a challenge. Now providing a location-based approach comes CitySounds.fm, a music browser that streams the latest music of the world, city by city. Created by a Swedish duo for Music Hack Day last month, CitySounds.fm lists major cities from around the world, with those most frequently selected at the top. Listeners simply click on a city name to hear a selection of the latest music from that city. All of the tracks played come from professional audio platform SoundCloud.com, while photo images accompanying each city name come from flickr. Using CitySounds.fm is free, and tracks and cities are updated constantly to reflect each city's musical trends. Like Harman Kardon's trip planner with suggested travelling music, and Louis Vuitton's MP3 tours of Chinese cities, CitySounds.fm provides consumers with a way to connect sound and music to specific places, whether or not they're travelling there themselves. Website: www.citysounds.fm |
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The UK's Royal Mail makes some 40 million unsuccessful first-time delivery attempts per year, causing no end of hassle for the consumers waiting to receive those packages. At the same time, Britain is losing about 52 of its pubs per week to recession-induced closures. Taken together, those two statistics underlie the creation of UseYourLocal, a new service backed by British brewer Scottish & Newcastle that facilitates package delivery to the local pub. Launched this spring, UseYourLocal aims to give consumers more reasons to visit their local pub, effectively helping to put the UK's 90,000 pubs and clubs back at the heart of the community. For GBP 50 (plus VAT) per year, participating pubs get their own website—including an easy way to email news and special offers to local customers—along with the ability to receive customers' package deliveries and a point-of-sale kit to help them register. Customers who sign up for the free service can then stay abreast of happenings in their favourite pubs as well as see who else has joined and send parcels to people at other registered outlets, with tracking along the way and email notification once their package has arrived. Perhaps best of all, of course, is that rather than waiting in line at the local postal sorting office to claim their undelivered packages, they can rediscover the charms of the local pub instead. The company's website explains: "At UseYourLocal we truly believe that local pubs and clubs can be a real force for good in our local villages, towns and cities and hope that this is just the first in a series of great ideas aimed at finding creative solutions to help breathe life back into local communities." More than 500 pubs across Britain have already signed up with UseYourLocal; how about bringing something similar to the local pubs in your neck of the woods...? (Related: Neighbourhood pickup spots for deliveries — Ride-sharing for packages.) Website: www.useyourlocal.com Spotted by: Andrew Sargent |
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After many caffeinated years spent paying homage to Starbucks, Red Bull and countless other purveyors of high-energy drinks, consumers are increasingly being invited to slow down—with the help of the right beverage. Now joining the ranks of Drank, Purple Stuff and Slow Cow—which we covered two weeks ago—comes a new contender, aptly named Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda. Whereas other anti-energy beverages we've seen base their relaxing qualities on some combination of ingredients including theanine, valerian, melatonin and rose hips, Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda appears to differ in its use of kava extract, which is said to promote "euphoric relaxation" along with mental clarity. Kava has been used as a ceremonial beverage in the Pacific Islands for thousands of years, Mary Jane's says, and can mirror the effects of alcohol without the negative side effects. Consumers can experience noticeable effects within 10 to 30 minutes of consuming it, and they typically last for one to two hours. Mary Jane's Relaxing Soda also contains passion flower extract, a calming herb used to treat anxiety and insomnia. (Despite its name, which hints at another relaxing herb, Mary Jane's doesn't contain marijuana.) The Kosher-certified drink is available from Mary Jane's Denver-based online store at prices starting at USD 11 for four bottles; for every sale, Mary Jane's donates USD 1 to the Modest Needs Foundation. Given the current economic recession, there's certainly no shortage of stress around the globe. So will relaxing sodas become the new energy drinks? Maybe not, but they could well become a viable niche alternative to beer and other alcoholic beverages. While the company mentions that Mary Jane's is coming to select 7-Eleven locations in the coming months, distribution is still limited—one to get in on early...? Website: www.relaxingsoda.com |
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