Posts tagged ‘food’
Pineberries
I’m not easily surprised when it comes to food, but these not only caught my eye, but also had me wondering if I had missed something all my life. Before you try to check your memory to see if you’ve ever seen these let me help you out. The odds are that no, you haven’t.
These strawberry-like berries were “re-launched” by Waitrose last April after near extension
According to the Guardian‘s review from last year they’re not all that great, but I still think they’re cute.
I’m curious and would love to try them, even if they’re supposed to taste like watered down pineapples. I’d love to know if I could get my hand on these in the US.
Ice Cream Party
Because I’m over the age of 10 people look at me funny when, every year, I suggest a theme party for my birthday. Get over it, it will continue happening. I’ll keep looking for borderline acceptable theme parties that can be adapted for the adult world while still appeasing my Neverland ways.
Saddly, I’ll never be able to get away with an Ice Cream party, but I’ll definitely find an excuse to make this adorable cake in the future.
Isn’t it just too cute?
Find out more about this simple ice cream party here.
Expense-a-Steak
Expenseasteak.com is a genius micro site for Maloney & Porcelli’s a NYC steakhouse that has found an interesting way to get you to eat there: make the company pay for it.
This stunt from NYC agency Walrus goes beyond digital marketing in a page that’s both clever and charming. You simply have to enter the total of your Maloney & Porcelli’s bill and it will give you a pdf with a series of realistic looking receipts that add up to the exact amount you spent.
What better way to break through the mold then to have a humorous approach to the recession.
It’s advertising at it’s best, but I wonder if anyone has dared to use the fake receipts, especially with the amount of buzz the web page has gotten.
Random Things
Some things I saw online today that made me laugh:
- A list of the Top 33 Most Deadly Substances: We’re basically not safe to eat, touch or get close to anything. Some of those things are too cute to be posionous!
- How spoil your dog : Yes, I love lists, and yes, I think fur for dogs are ridiculous.
- Pimped out cars: Really? A bedazzled car?!
- Jacob or Edward: A twilight themed crop circle. What is wrong with the world?
Via Presurfer and Geekologie
Buddah Pears
I’ve seen a lot of webpages report on the Baby Shaped Pears that are being grown by a Chinese farmer. He’s been trying to figure them out in 2003 and he reportedly grew 10,000 pears this year. In my opinion, they look more like Buddah than a baby, but no matter what they look like they’re not worth the $5 pounds he’s selling them for. He makes them but putting a plastic mold around them at what he’s emasured to be the perfect time and taking them out of the mold before the ripen.
I find them very creepy, and wouldn’t consider eating one.
Click here for more examples of unnaturally shaped fruits and vegetables.
From a marketing point of view it would be interesting to see if brands would dear to dwell into this. I won’t be surprised if we soon see Mickey shaped apples in Disney World or Logos on certain vegetables.
Free Nothings
read the small print
All companies want a piece of the free publicity that social networking brings. Twitter, Facebook and bloggers have the ability of getting the attention of a lot of people. Recently, companies have been trying to find new ways to exploit this new media and its influence. Moonfruit has been the best example so far. They managed to get themselves on the trending topics by simply offering 10 MacBook Pros to one random person per day that mentioned moonfruit in their tweets. It managed to get them a huge amount of attention and free press.
Some have been victims of it. Yesterday i saw that one of the trending topics was “AT&T is a big” and another one was “steaming, hip of failure.” Of course, I had to click and it led me to an article that trashes AT&T and encourages Apple to not renew their exclusivity contract for the iPhone with AT&T.
Hopefully, Starbucks won’t get trashed for their pathetic attempt to get positive press. Thier offering a free pastry on the morning of July 21st to anyone that buys a beverage. But by morning they mean opening time to 10:30am. They are obviously trying to increase sales and entry into their stores, but maybe they should try harder. Ben and Jerry’s has a free cone DAY and one day a year Dunkin Donuts offers free iced coffee from 10am to 10pm. Everyone could get a free cone or a free iced coffee but only those that print out the paper or show it to the barista on their handheld device will be able to get the pastry. I think braving those bound-to-be-crazy lines is certainly enough.
I wonder if Starbucks will get the publicity and sales rise it desires. I personally, don’t think a couple of hours is enough. And they definitely owe loyal customers more than 2 or 3 hours of a limited amount of free pastries.
In an Ideal World
I’d love to see this concept in action. It’s a paper bottle to replace the plastic bottle. Though it’s still not as environmentally friendly as drinking regular tap water or using your own reusable thermos it offers users an option other than the typical overused plastic bottle. Yes, it has its shortcomings (it still needs to be recycled, paper production takes a lot of energy, people won’t catch on…), but at least it’s proof that people are thinking the right way.
CHALLENGE
Each day, Americans throw out 60 million plastic bottles. Only 14% actually get recycled—meaning 86% become garbage or litter. We looked at this as a radical problem requiring an equally radical solution. Could we design a container that would leverage sustainability, be easy to transport, and enhance the consumer’s drinking experience?SOLUTION
The 360 Paper Bottle is a sustainable vision of the future. It is the first totally recyclable paper container made from 100% renewable resources. Versatile in its range of consumer applications and made from food-safe and fully recyclable materials, it decreases energy consumed throughout the product life cycle without sacrificing functionality. It is paper packaging that stands up to all liquid categories.
This is a project from BrandImage that still needs a branded home in order to work.
via Dieline
Smell-O-Vision
We’ve all seen this idea before, mostly in futuristic films that show how the world would be in the year 2235, but it’s kind of creepy seeing it come to life. The SmellIt is a new device that plays smells along with your dvd player. Here is how it works (as described on their webpage):
SMELLIT works just like your printer, but instead of ink cartridges, it works with smell cartridges. As your DVD player reads the video and sound information from your favourite DVD disc, SMELLIT processes the same DVD, but the ”smell CARD” decodes all the smell information from 10 to 20 seconds* ahead of the actual scene so the odours have time to reach the spectators. After decoding the smell information, the cartridge vaporizes a very small amount off concentrated “smell gel”, and the central fan distributes equally the smell in all directions. It can be loaded with 118 cartridges, each one with a different concentrated “smell gel”. All the cartridges can be easily changed and last 3 times more than a regular ink cartridge.
Imagine the surprises that could come when surfing channels. This could give a whole new meaning to Giada DiLorenti’s show. It sounds good in theory, but I’d definitely have to limit my Food Network activity if I don’t want to gain 5,000 pounds.
As a person I think it’s a clever idea, but a bit weird. If it catches on I’ll be one of the late adopters.
As a future advertiser I think it’s an incredible idea and opens a whole new world of possibilities. Who wouldn’t order pizza at 11pm when you smell it whole lazily sitting on your couch? I wonder who’s going to be the first to take advantage of it. I’m looking forward to the Glade ads.
