Japanese Innovation Today, American Consumerism Tomorrow

Apparently Japan is the land of vending machines. As you'll see below they have some unique and interesting vending machines, to say the least. The possibilities are endless and considering how convenient they can be I don't know why there isn't one on every street corner here in the states. So as you look through these wonderful examples of ingenuity, think about the possibilities, tell a friend, write a delegate, make it reality. We'll all be better off because life will get just that much easier.























7-11 has nothing on this. In a rush? Late at night? Grab a hot meal from this beauty. That's right hot meal.























Why fight the traffic our crowds at the grocery store just for your Sunday omelet?
























Accidentally mess your under britches? Run down to the corner for some vending lingerie.























Did a little thunder shower sneak up on you? Pick up an affordable umbrella and save that stylish up-do.
















This is more on the awkward side but as you board your next flight and you get that strange gut feeling, buy some flight insurance and laugh about it when you land. But rest assure that your loved ones won't want for anything if you pass in a tragic crash.























Every teenage boy's dream. No ID required.

If you thought picking up a little teddy bear was tough, try a pissed off lobster. Genius idea, some people just refuse to give up on these things, spending big money. And now there's the added incentive to quell your hunger with a tasty shell fish.

"Mini Liquor House"? I don't know that I wish for this vending machine to hit the American sidewalks but you got to give it to the Japanese for their passion to party.

I think this was in a Flintstones episode

This is bound to leave some people feeling squeamish, but Virginian spa Yvonne Hair and Nails is offering a wild new treatment for cleaning up dead and calloused skin on your feet. Simply dunk your feet into Yvonne’s foot baths and have tiny toothless carp chew away the dead skin on your feet in 15 to 30 minutes, leaving it soft and easy to remove during a finishing-up conventional pedicure. Not surprisingly some people find the treatment ‘a little ticklish’. The treatment costs $50 for a 30 minute nibblefest.

Beijing '08

Amnesty International, which fights for human rights across the world, has launched an awareness campaign against the use of torture in China. Their campaign slogan is, “After the Olympic Games, the fight for human rights must go on.” These are very powerful and moving ads from the advertising agency TBWA out of Paris, France and art director Philippe Taroux. The art direction and photography do a great job of bringing you into the advertisement. TBWA Paris was asked to make signs that focus on the current human rights situation in China and they really utilized the notoriety of this summer’s Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to do so. The main characters of the posters are the athletes themselves, subjected to torture next to their sporting equipment or beside their sporting facilities. It will really be interesting to see what happens in August in terms of protests, demonstrations, security situations and so on.

Evolution or A Cry for Help?

Advertisers are looking high and low for new media to extend their reach and separate from all the clutter and listed here are four new methods of advertising that do just that. With that said, I think brands need to be careful not to diminish their brand equity, because as you’ll see below some of these methods are certainly questionable.


1.) Eye Level Marketing is placing large ads on employee uniforms. Given the potential to gain extra revenue from the deal, you can expect this to become a popular new medium. Potential venues to move first include: grocers, sports arenas, theme parks, electronics stores and drugstores.








2.) Given that US airlines are currently seeking additional revenue from nearly any source imaginable, perhaps it was inevitable that soon airliners will be wrapped in advertising messages. If done well I think this can be an effective touchpoint, however, I’m not so sure it’ll have a high reach.



3.) Benjamin Rogovy, president and chief economist of Front Door Enterprises, developed this system after realizing the enormous potential in the homeless persons business model, taking advantage of high volume traffic. However, I am fairly sure this is more disgusting than charitable so it’ll be interesting to see if it takes off. You can check it out at Bumvertising.com.









4.) Lastly, you have the sheep. I don’t want to devote much text to this because I think it’s spit in your face stupid but it is a good example of thinking outside the box, so kudos.

How the snooze button is effecting the Republicans

The Web has turned presidential politics into an interactive experience, making donations as easy as a mouse click, transforming volunteering from wherever you could find something locally to now your living room or office. In addition, the online donors are not just passively giving but rather proactively participating in these campaigns and this is the reason the Democrats have moved to capitalize on the infinite resources the Web has to offer.

However, the Republican Party is a different story. The majority of McCain’s online staff was let go last fall and his minimalist website was weak, to say the least. Moreover, the McCain blog hasn’t been updated in months, many options and tools aren’t even there and the social networking feature, called “McCainSpace”, is far from finished. It is almost insulting when you go to his website to find a page that only asks for money and simply broadcasts the campaigns message, offers press releases and a few videos. Needless to say the Republicans have a lot of catching up to do and they better start quickly.

People are going on their home computers seeking out Obama’s website. There they can create a personal Web page to connect with other Obama supporters in their area. Once assembled they are assigning themselves tasks throughout the country with guidance from the campaign website. They are also downloading phone lists in order to call potential supporters in the area as well as typing names and addresses into Obama’s national database. Hillary and Obama’s paid campaign staff are finding that when they arrive to these places, weeks later, there is already a well organized campaign machine up and running.

It is estimated that people are spending as many as 25 hours a week volunteering for Obama and it’s because they feel like they’re making a difference and they enjoy that sense of involvement. What is even more impressive is that his online fund raising surpassed the 100 million mark in the first three months of the year, and his You Tube videos have been viewed 37 million times. It has been said that, “Obama’s campaign exploits the biggest shift in national politics since the rise of television.” Obama's website is geared toward engagement, prompting volunteerism as the real difference maker. “Everything Obama does is fundamentally about a people powered democracy and a people powered campaign.”

On the other hand, McCain is still heavy on the traditional methods, spending a lot of time in hotel ballrooms, charming wealthy donors with traditional chicken dinners and fruit platters mixers. In March he attended twenty-six fundraisers in twenty-four cities, raising nearly 15 million, with roughly one third of it coming from the web. However, Obama attended only six events in the same period, yet his campaign raised three times as much.

So my question to the McCain is this:
As we enter a time when you can get by without owning a TV due to the Web, how could you not tackle the Internet issue head on?

This is a good read, enjoy

"Is Your Jar Full?

When things in your life seem almost to much to handle, when 24 hours in a
day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar......and the beer.

A Professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front
of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and
empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then
asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the Professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed it was.

The Professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of
course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar
was full. The students responded with an unanimous "Yes."

The Professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty
space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the Professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your
health, your friends, your favorite passions - things that if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house,
your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "there is no room
for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are
critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get
medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There
will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of
the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand."

When he had finished, there was a profound silence. Then one of the
students raised her hand and with a puzzled expression, inquired what the
beer represented.

The Professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of
beers.'"

I'm speechless

Japan has some of the wackiest and most unusual products anywhere and this amazing new game for the Wii is solid proof. The game, Super Pii Pii Brothers, uses an unusual "strap-on" style accessory and peeing action.

The play mechanics are simple. Prepare yourself by strapping on the included belt harness and jacking in your Wiimote. A series of toilets are presented on screen and the challenge is to tilt your body to control a never-ending stream of pee. Get as much pee in the toilets as you can while spilling as little on the floor as possible. Get too much pee on the ground and your game is over. With realistic fluid dynamics for the pee and over 100 different bathrooms from bars and palaces to automatic Japanese style toilets you'll be entertained for hours. And wait until your friends see the multi-player mode with dueling pee streams.

According to the Japanese text on the box "Super Pii Pii Brothers promotes good bathroom skills and allows women to experience for the first time the pleasure of urinating while standing."

Remember when the vibrating joystick was cool?

When a new breed of video game technology hits the market next month, gamers will get a real sense of the flesh and blood aspect of first person shooter games as they gain the ability to feel the impact of bullets, explosions and other blows by donning a specially designed vest rigged with pneumatic actuators and microcompressors. The vest also works with other games like first person driver simulation, feeling pressure on your chest as you accelerate or on your back as you brake, even on your sides going through turns. This is simply the next step in video game technology. Maybe its replacement will stimulate emotion.

Watch a short video about it:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=video-ces-tns-gaming-vest

Barefoot marathon runners meet their match

Nike has developed a marathon shoe that is intended to be thrown away after one race. However, the real story here lies in the weight of the shoe. Coming in at a whopping 9 ounces or roughly half a pound, one can hardly tell they are wearing a shoe at all. Given the fragile nature of the shoe it is deemed useless after 26 miles. Truly a wonderful display of innovation on Nike's part and a testament to the path in which technology continues to travel. And did I mention that it only costs $50.

Political Journalism and It's Nasty Little Secret

Throughout this historical presidential primary I’ve noticed underlying preferences among journalists while they stand by their claims of neutrality in the political arena. So I began to contemplate the implications for remaining neutral and upon further research found that the idea of unbiased political reporting grew from a tradition, and in my opinion, a harmful one at that. It turns out that as journalism evolved from a “less credentialed reporters” era into a well-oiled machine made up of certified observants, the common view was that the personal preferences of journalists’ would have an effect on the public. However, this ignorant concept of neutrality is having a far more negative effect on journalism than if the reporters were to make their preferences known.
Essentially, the current system is perpetuating a lie. Hidden amongst the news is the true opinion of most reporters and it’s evident to myself and millions of other Americans. It sends a message that the media is unauthentic and phony. We aren’t idiots. We know that it’s impossible to be immersed in a political campaign and not care who wins. Additionally, the attention that goes into uncovering reporters preferences steals attention from the political topics that really matter.
It is possible to report on political news in such a way that gives equal voice to both sides of the story, regardless of the reporters’ views. This is the foundation of journalism. So why does it not apply here? Because no one else is doing it. The fear of loosing viewership and readership is driven by the almighty dollar. If only large media syndicates would realize the overwhelming cry for authenticity amongst the American public and begin to report the whole story. Maybe then, could they offer the truth and let us decide right from wrong, rather than have us decipher the news in search for the true relevance. This new system would force reporters to prove that fairness is possible in every story and that the truth is the only thing that matters in journalism.

The celebrity plug at it's finest

The paparazzi captured this shot of our beloved British charmer, Hugh Grant, driving with a Carlsberg beer in his cup holder. Subsequently, the Copenhagen based brewer has seen a significant revenue spike after this photo, with added product call out, hit the streets and web. Carlsberg can't make a habit of appearing in possible DUI pictures but if it brought new consumers to the brand then good for them, right? Does it hurt the brand image? Is it unethical?

I'll take the Jumbo AA recliner please

Imagine how delicate we would be if the furniture in our homes were constructed of eggs. For instance, the act of giving the toll attendant a dollar would be handled as though a baby chick were being passed off. Just take a moment to ponder how the materials around you dictate the way in which you move about in your world. Taking this a step further, do we "mozie" like the Japanese, the French, what about the American Indians? Furthermore, would basketball players benefit from furniture that required they jump six feet to get on? There's a whole world of possibilities. While odd, this approach could provide a new breed of human. So next time you plop on your couch think about how much better you could be if you were a nut job.