Coca-Cola’s been hitting the metaverse lately with their Byte Cola. Next up is the IRL Coca-Cola Starlight. Coke is attempting to keep the taste a mystery. They say “It’s as Mysterious as the Cosmos“, pretty cryptic eh?
Listed below are a couple of hints as we get ready for the Starlight release on Monday May 2nd. The internet is a blaze of bits of information, Almost like a limited AJ1 release.
From Eater: Astronomers discovered a dust cloud in the Milky Way made up of ethyl formate, the same chemical that gives raspberries their flavor and it smells like Rum. I never knew their was a p in the word Raspberries.
From Coca-Cola: A cola like beverage meant to evoke the feeling of a journey to space.
And my favorite:
From The Food Network: A reddish-hued beverage, tasting like fruity yet minty cotton candy with a hint of vanilla. Say what? Hahaha
A reddish-hued beverage, tasting like fruity yet minty cotton candy with a hint of vanilla
What have you heard of the new Starlight beverage? Will you try it? Is it buzzing around your real world or metaverse? Let us know in the comments.
Watch the Video above to see what’s trending in 2022. We’re not out of the woods yet. But both Vogue and TrendHunter said the Roaring 20’s are coming soon. Maybe in Spring or Summer of 2022? Hope so, I know some thought it was June/July 2021, but that lasted about 38 days.
Sanitize, social distance, wear your mask, and get vaccinated if it works for you. History has shown that plagues have ended. We shall continue to hope & faith that we can stay safe till Covid/Corona can be seen in our rear view mirrors.
You can check out the video above, or for a quick look at the 2022 trends, here they are:
20. NFT ART
19. In Game Inclusion
18. Summer Cannabis-BBQ’s and Beaches. Sippin’ weed.
17. Car Free Retail- All inclusinve living areas
16. Generation Dating-See Gen Z & Tic Toc
15. Carbon Offset-If you’ve been watching Billions on TV, you know what this is
14. Activism Pop-Up
13. Accessible Care
12. P2P Community-Mental health via Apps
11. Low Alcohol Bar-More about getting together in community than drinking too much.
10. International Keto-Example: Vegan Kim Chee
9. Farm to Phone-Fresh produce via digital devices
8. Nature Novice-Outdoor Adventurism
7. Hyper Convenient Camping
6.Sensitization Health-Hi end brands incorporating sanitization into their products
5. Health Hub
4. Tech Fatigue-Taking breaks from the digital/social media world
3. Boomer Tech-Virtual fitness, using apps for groceries becoming the norm
Here’s this week’s summation of the World as of July 15, 2020 from the World of Advertising in Hawaii:
Open for Business: Let people know that you are open for business. Whether it’s in a radio ad, digital ad, TV commercial, billboard or even a big sign on your door. When I walked the neighborhood last week, it was hard tell who was open or closed. Even when I walked right up to the doors, still hard to tell, due to less people inside, dimmer lighting, buzzer systems etc. Maybe, cover a window with a big sign WE ARE OPEN and if there’s enough room, mention the hours you are open. It’s pretty confusing figuring out who is open and closed nowadays.
Hopeful: Feed your mind with positive messaging. Watch YouTube shows of Wayne Dyer, Joel Osteen, Sky St John, Bishop Jakes, Richard Levy, Teal Swan, Justin Epstein, Les Brown, Abraham Hicks, David Goggins, Alan Watts. Those are just some examples. Find someone on YouTube that you can resonate with and listen to them in the morning and as you go to sleep. Right down positive affirmations and repeat them often throughout the day. I am Hopeful, I am Helpful, I am 100% Healthy, I am Prosperous, I am Safe, I am Alive Awake Enthusiastic. Again, use some of these or make up your own, but use them all day everyday. Especially if you watch the news everyday. It’s important to balance out what you see and hear in the news, on Facebook even on IG sometimes. In my opinion IG should be sacred ground for positivity and happiness. Or if FB is getting to negative and strange, find a new social network to join. Or make your own social media for others of like mind to join. Now is the time to be creative, confident and to do things you never thought possible.
Helpful: This can take so many forms. I personally could use help shopping. When I go to the grocery store every synapse in my body tweaks. It’s like a rush of a nasty storm floods my body. I could use some help shopping. If you see someone having trouble in a store, help them. Show them where things are, help them carry things to their car or even just a quick eye smile. In your adverting be helpful, let them know you are open, that you have special accommodations set up, maybe some tips on how to buy on line. If you want to help the 55+ crowd, help them with your on-line buying structure. In your ads or on the phone on how to do some things that come naturally to the 12-30 year olds. Especially tips on how to use your phone for E-Commerce. For some reason not every mobile check out is the same. Some are pretty hard to navigate. Completely different idea: A super easy, helpful thing to do is to bring your neighbors some home cooked meals or that new gluten free cookie dough bread you made last night. Not everyone is equipped to continue to make all these meals everyday. Or get some take out or delivery and share it with the building manager, door person, people across the street, your favorite store merchant.
Stay Healthy: Eat veggies, blend a drink, eat some fruits. Exercise, get some safe-sun. Take an Airborne chewable. Down a multi vitamin each morning. Get some Elderberry chewables. Drink some echinacea tea. Continue to do whatever you were doing back in March. Get it all out again in July. Or continue your good healthy plans. Me, I thought back in March that July was gonna’ be the month. But it’s not. Somethings have opened back up, some have closed for good. It’s a bit far from a “New Normal”. Hopefully in October we will see some change, maybe some new pills before the election. Thinking someone might have some sort of handy helpful pill or drink to take in October. Next month to look forward to is January 2021, when the vaccine is here. Hopefully.
Today’s blog not all positive, but full of hope, help and a big punch of the “New Reality” not the new normal … yet. And I’d say wear a mask if you can. Even if you read some negative FB stories, if it helps it helps, if it doesn’t at least you tried. Some are actually pretty fun and can be quite matchy-matchy with your kicks and clothes.
Retail Tips from RAB
Here’s some fun, helpful tips from the Radio Adverting Bureau. Just make sure you wash your leggings before using them as a mask..LOL
What the World looks like Today (Thursday May 14, 2020)
With all the blurred days blending into a very unfamiliar brain-zone, Feels like we are living in William Gibson’s newest book Agency. Where the space time continuum and the Tomorrow’s Today is Yesterday theme fits right in to my world right now. I cant quite time travel backwards or forwards like the book. But I can observe and think future forward.
The last post was already a month ago, which feels like a month ago or 8-10 days ago, once again the blurring of days into other days can throw me off a bit. At that time, the main themes were the rising of TikTok, Zoom and Opportunity.
From Observance, reading, talking to people and intuition. Lets see where May 14th 2020 takes us:
Tune Squad Jersey Front
Tune Squad Jersey Back
Nostalgia: People want to feel safe. By going back in time and visiting things they loved when the world was “Normal” helps them cope. Some examples: People watching movies from their teens and 20’s. The Buying and selling of Star Wars, 70’s and 80’s Sitcom and Pokemon merchandise is hot now. Tie-Dye has been IN and will continue as a big fashion trend, think of the freedom vibe in the 70’s, there was war, but there were also hippies and lots of Tie Dye which is a safe, fun vibe. And the TD masks that will be created will be stellar. Of course one of a kind, which is still a very HOT trend, not going anywhere.
And Michael Jordan’s the Last Dance brings back the 1990’s to a TON of the sports and entertainment starved population of the world. Stock X, who sells sneakers like stocks, had their site crash during one of TheLast Dance episodes. And Jordan sneaker prices continue to climb. Jordan’s Rookie card was selling for 7K about 5 years ago, Sold for 12K the week of May 4, 2020.
I didn’t even catch on that I was already doing the Nostalgia trend on Fridays I was watching a different Old school Basketball movie each week. The reason at the time, it was making me feel, well.. warm, comfortable and SAFE. I watched He Got Game, Above the Rim, even Rebound helped me cope. Nostalgia and things that we liked when we were young will continue to bring relief and a feeling of safety, a trend that isn’t going anywhere soon.
How can you take advantage of it? Use some key entertainers from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in your advertising. Do some Trivia games on your social media that cater to any of these years. Bring Back the Drive-In movie or take it further and do a drive In RAVE or Drive up Virtual Concert. Churches can use a low frequency FM stations and broadcast the sermon to the cars in the parking lot. There is so much we can do Me, I’m gonna try and sell some Beanie Babies!
Aloha Shirts: Yet another revival of a revival. Wowza! This ties into the Nostalgia theme, yet goes a bit further. After the daily press conference in Hawaii, the game show: Who’s Line is it anyway? comes on my TV. So, I end up watching a bit of the 2019-2020 season and both Drew Carey and Ryan Stiles have been wearing Aloha shirts. They look slightly out of place since they are the corporate versions. I’d rather see them in some vintage looks. Adam Sandler has a new movie coming out soon The Wrong Missy, they are wearing the corporate, vintage and loud shirts in it. And watch for the 70’s Trucker Hat in the trailer/movie on Netflix. That might or might not take off.
BTW-Pro Tip: Tori Richard has been GIVING away free masks daily. If you go to their website. A pop up appears 1-2x a day. Sign up with your info and they send you 4 free masks. With a nice print on the outside and another pretty cool print on the inside. Plus you receive a $25 Coupon and free delivery on your next purchase. Not sure how long this will last, check their site out and see. There are also masks for sale, but look for the pop-up that appears mysteriously almost daily.
High Quality-Low Priced Clothing: There’s going to be more clothes available than people to buy and wear them. Look to Macy’s, TJ Maxx, Kohl’s, and Ross first. They will have inventory from Spring they should have sold 2 months ago. Even though, many have been selling on line, the things that have been delivered to the stores have been sitting for 2 months. There are gonna be some MASSIVE DEALS on high quality clothing. Look to Nordstorm, Saks and Bloomingdale’s next. However, a lot may just sit and turn into material for masks since unemployment is so high.
Pro Tip: I don’t know how true this is, saw it on Footlocker New Zealand. But they say they will be releasing some HEAT from a few weeks ago. That means you may be able to score some retro Jordan’s at COST! Just need to time your store visit correctly and wear a mask.
Click and Mortar: 70% of customers use the internet before making a purchase, researching, pricing, comparing or buying. There’s stores in New York that use their store as an advertising venue more than a place to buy things. The RealReal is a good example of this. Order on line pick up in store. Stores using wi-fi and Geo tracking to give you deals while in store or when you get home. The click and mortar is basically a blend of the on line and on site experience. This is supposed to be what’s happening now or near future. But because of all that’s happened, AMAZON just may be the only CLICKS store you need. I’m a shopper, thus I like to wander stores and browse, touch, feel, try things on. Yet, after all that’s happened, I doubt even I will be doing that in the near future. Could be in another 10, maybe even 5 years. There won’t be much more Mortar to go to. I am hoping that is not the case, Yet AMAZON has pretty much everything and It tends to be cheaper. One Company will rule the world. AMAZON or Alibaba or maybe some underdog from Russia. My main bet would be on AMAZON. They already own more than you think: IMBD, Twitch, Whole Foods Audible, Zappos, Shopbop and a few more!
Specialized One of a Kind Boutique’s may be best equipped to be Click and Mortar. And stay in business both on-line and in a physical store.
Physical Retail stores were having trouble before all of this (Barney’s-RIP) Now, who knows what may become of a traditional on-site store. At this very moment, I’m thinking a lot more CLICKS than mortars.
Look Good Inside: All of this Zooming and sitting around the house will help the accouterments, lighting and beauty brands. People want to look good in their zoom meeting. Look for special skin preparations, light specifically made for Zoom meetings and possibly home improvements. But you can easily change your room to a stylish apartment on the upper East Side by using your iPhone to screen shot a great apartment background. I don’t even bother with a made for Zoom Virtual Background. I just find pix in my camera or take a simple screen shot from the internet and interchange them dependent upon which meeting I am in. And I’d buy something to get rid of some wrinkles on screen or even a stand for my phone so my head doesn’t look so big. Hey, how bout a green screen, so that your real background doesn’t seep through the virtual background. I bet we see home style Green Screens for sale very, very soon.
Anyone ready for a DIY haircut done by a Robot. Perfect, Precision, Cut and Color to your liking in the comfort of your own home. But, you’ll miss out on some juicy gossip. Who knows maybe the 2nd gen version will come with gossip audio? Could happen! Actually will happen..who knows, maybe it already exists!
Ok, that should do it for May 14, 2020. I know I forgot something, but as you and I know, too much writing usually doesn’t get read. People want instant gratification and instant knowledge. Next blog, promise, we will do 5 easy to read headlines with 2 sentence in each.
I leave you with this video for today. It’s keeping with the stay positive vibe, but you may need to do a bit of home work. Hope it helps you navigate Tomorrow’s Today is Yesterday.
Or the World as we knew it, no longer exists. Either way we say it. It’s true. Some days, I’ll post an uplifting video usually on marketing or advertising and other days, I’ll write. Today we have a bit of both.
Due to the ever changing world as of today (4/12/20), the way we did things and the way we do them now, are accelerating at an unprecedented speed. Some of you may have already have been there, for others, it’s like what just happened to my World?!?!
Some examples:
ZOOMING INTO INNOVATION BE LIKE:
ZOOM: Three weeks ago, zoom was how fast Lebron could get from one end of the Court to the other. Now it’s how we have weekly Sales Meetings, Virtual Cocktails, Dance parties, Yoga Sessions and Family Gatherings like Birthdays, Graduation and even EASTER!
WE ARE HERE FOR YOU: Next time you watch TV, see how many commercials say these exact words. They are good words and needed at this time. But how did close to 75% decide on these exact 5 words? I don’t know the answer and ponder it nightly. However, The actual point here is, look how quickly the TV commercials changed. Years ago it would have been 7-10 days to tweak the messaging. The turnaround on some of these ads were 3 days! Did the ad agency’s have them pre-packaged and ready. Or was it that you and I can edit a commercial on our own laptop and don’t even need to do a big production session. It was probably a combo of both. Yet, both lead us back to accelerated speed of efficiency. Speed of things has been accelerated tremendously. FASTER ZOOMING
CONTACTLESS DELIVERY: This moved so quick, spell check doesn’t even recognize the word. Papa John’s does a really nice job of explaining it in their commercials. Kudos go to to them for the simplicity and effectiveness of the message. And once again, how quickly they got it on TV. ZOOMIER ZOOMING
AI: Artificial Intelligence is something that is fun to think about “coming soon”. But it is here now. With AI, Google can figure out what type of ad to serve you in less than 1.2 seconds. You may not need to know how AI works and the codes that go into it. But if you’re not aware of it and think its on it’s way, its here and is most likely going to break through the Covid-19 months, with outrageous popularity. Read about it, hire someone to help your company use it. Whatever you do, don’t think its on the way, it may be doing your job in 3 years. Think about that! OUTSTANDING ZOOM
SOCIAL MEDIA: Negative: Lots of people passing around information that is FAKE more than ever. Positive in advertising: Within 8 days of quarantine, ALL of these companies showed up on my FB and IG feed: Purity Products, Nu Image Medical, Vital Proteins, Lifetones, Nanoceutical Solutions, AnaHealth, And Ace Nutritian. Other than Purity, I never heard of any of them before. And they all were quick to react to sell me and you Immunity products. They have the products to fill our needs NOW. SPEEDY Immunity to the rescue! TikTok: These are :15 second videos, I don’t know the stats exactly, but can tell for sure that they have had the biggest growth in March/April 2020. Probably because of the quickness of the video, just :15 seconds and :15 seconds is just enough time to have your granpa dance to some Quavo. (Hopefully he isn’t drinking Quavo at the same time.Haha) I predict now that TikTok will be the big winner when we come out of this. However be careful, some say your information on Tik Tok goes to some sketchy places. TIK TOK’S FIFTEEN SECONDS TO ZOOM
INNOVATION/OR ACTIVE VERSION INNOVATE!: This last thing isn’t something I’ve seen or heard lately. It’s just become embedded in my brain in March and April 2020. I don’t know the facts surrounding it or where it’s coming from. Like when Wayne Dyer writes a book, he says the words just appear on the page as the day goes by. Well this word is appearing in my brain all day and even at night. It’s telling me and you something and I bet when it happens it will be FAST. ZOOM IS THE NORM Happy Zoom meetings to you and yours. Scott
INNOVATING THROUGH CHAOS WEBINAR:
Today’s uplifting video is from Jeremy Gutsche of Trendhunter. If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing. A few key points include:
Path Dependency. Crisis. Chaos. Recharting.
Chaos Creates Opportunities. Chaos Changes the Rules. Chaos Switches Who is in the Lead.
Solve a new Consumer Need. You can Thrive when others Retreat. Be irresistible with a specific group of people.
The LumiWatch brings us one step closer to the virtual screen. This watch has an embedded projector that casts a light based touchscreen interface on to your arm.
Right now it’s a prototype from Carnegie Mellon University and looks a bit funky, It’s just a matter of months or even days before we see the real deal on your neighbors arm.
Better get ready to add shaving your arms to shaving ones face and legs. Enjoy the Video! Have a nice weekend.
Advertising In Hawaii 