Influx

Despite today's image-obsessed media, it looks like ugly sells. After all, what one person considers beautiful, another considers ugly. Leading this style trend is another cultural export from Asia: Ugly Dolls: part toy, part art collectible.These plush, anatomically-challenged creatures are...

Several times a year, automotive companies unveil concept cars. Most of these cars never make it into production. Instead, they are designed to capture media attention and work as buzz creators. They might signal a change of direction for a company, or showcase a radical idea. The designers get a...

Ini Ani is a small coffee store in the Lower East side of New York. Its architects, Lewis, Tsurumaki and Lewis have used the space creatively and built a tiny coffee palace. The place could not be further away from the typical Starbucks experience. Ultra-modern, clean and yet comfortable, it's...

Nokia and Motorola have long understood the important role that fashion can play in the marketing of handsets. They have used fashion imagery, sponsored fashion shows, sought distribution in fashionable outlets and created limited-edition lines. Now Samsung is taking the idea one-step further by...

With some much retail, especially mall and big box, all looking the same, many players are looking out for new ways to use retail as a brand communication tool. The temporary store is one tactic designed to generate buzz and excitement.For years, Target have created unusual stores in Manhattan; one...

If one was to look at the breath mint category in the late 1990s, there was not a lot of innovation going on. The only news, Altoids, an old British brand, had taken the category by storm by re-introducing the traditional mint, albeit with nice packaging and great advertising.This move by Kraft's...

Women are bombarded by images of beauty as defined by the media, cosmetics and fashion industries. Unilever's research for their Dove brand appears to have understood that women have had enough. Most brands in the beauty and fashion business are content to continue to perpetuate the ideal of...

Nike's collaboration with famed designer, Marc Newson creates a shoe of incredible originality. Inspired by Sputnik and named after the first dog in space.http://www.5th-dimension.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=388

Howies clothing company is the brainchild of an ex-advertising creative and his wife. A business where the main motive is the communication of values, rather than making money. Howies make clothing for the extreme sports crowd and have adopted an approach similar to Patagonia: they use organic...

Proctor and Gamble researchers noticed that people are increasingly looking for ways they can express themselves at home by creating 'moods' through home decor and sensory ambiance. They sensed an untapped opportunity for a new, premium air freshener brand if only they could be position it as a...

It's a fact: men are less shy about their vanity than they were even ten years ago. In the media and in social life, the residual 1950's gender role machismo is giving way to a more honest and balanced reflection of what men actually care about. Men do want to look stylish and attractive, and...

The new branded hotels that are popping up are not just another example of licensing gone haywire. These magazine, fashion and lifestyle brands are creating some of the most effective brand immersion experiences since Disneyland. This level of potential in communicating and building a...

How can a big brand that mass-produces its goods cater to niches that pride themselves on using and wearing non-mass produced goods? When what makes a brand cool to a target group is whether the brand comes from members of their own fringe culture, is that kind of cool simply unattainable for the...

Dub magazine is a window directly into the aspirational core of urban car-modifying subcultures. Hip-hop artists, pro skaters, top athletes and Hollywood celebrities actually contact the magazine, asking to be featured in its articles and sought-after cover-spreads. Unlike most specialty...

Every brand manager knows that the experience while shopping for a brand can define brand image as much as the advertising or even the product itself. Designers and decorators are now commissioned to create retail environments from the bottom up, trying to shape shopper experiences in ways that...