Inspiration

As Condé Nast launches a postgraduate programme dedicated to social media influencers of the future, legacy brands provide insight into building relevant brands with staying power.

Photo: Jonathan Daniels

Condé Nast Italia recently announced the launch of Condé Nast Social Academy in partnership with one of the world’s most prestigious business schools – Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management. The certified postgraduate degree programme will offer classes on communication, social marketing and digital media, with graduates becoming a part of Condé Nast’s network of 300 social influencers.

According to the group’s Chief Executive Officer Fedele Usai in an interview with WWD, the academy’s aim is to “invest in education in order to have a well-trained and, most importantly, ethical category (of influencers)”. With the media company’s combined digital properties registering 35 million users in August 2017, the programme will offer the lucky students valuable insight from leaders of some of the group’s most successful platforms.

While the new programme, along with social media in general, is driven by progression, it will do well to take lessons from its elders, such as Vogue – Condé Nast’s 125-year-old fashion bible – and Vanity Fair, which received a record-breaking 11 million unique users in one week, following the debut of its new online redesign and editorial channels. The most important lessons that CN’s future influencers can learn from both titles are:

• Strong storytelling skills
• A cohesive cross-network strategy that leads back to the source
• Most importantly, always maintain a clear and strong brand identity.

As media continues to expand and open up new channels, everyone’s looking for unique ways to connect with customers. Here are just a few innovative examples:

Nike Connect

You either love sports shirts, or you hate them. However, Nike has created a seriously cool shirt that builds on the fan bond. The sportswear giant recently launched NikeConnect, a special technology that is integrated into sportswear, allowing fans to follow their favourite teams through their jersey. For the launch of this year’s NBA season, the company launched a range of basketball vests fitted with a near-field communication (NFC) chip. Using NikeConnect’s new app, the wearer can place their smartphone against the chip to access exclusive team content, taking fans “closer to the game than ever before.”

Read more at Nike.com

Insta’s first Digizine

Singer/songwriter FKA Twigs recently launched the first issue of what is considered to be the first Instagram magazine. AVANTgarden is a “digizine” published using Instagram slides. This unique creative route offers the innovative artist a new way to connect with her 1.1m Instagram followers. The first issue: Roots. Shock. Beauty is a 10-page slideshow with Twigs as Editor, featuring magazine style photography and styling, complete with creative collaborations and credits.

A bright idea

This December, London’s South Bank will feature a Christmas tree with a difference. The UK charity, Marie Curie has developed a memory-powered interactive Christmas tree. To highlight the charity’s work caring for people with terminal illness, the fairy lights on the tree will be powered by people sharing their memories on social media. For every post on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #LightUpXmas the lights will grow brighter.

Celebrating service

The US online clothing retailer Zappos came up with the idea of promoting its renowned excellence in customer service by reenacting some of the funniest true customer stories. From a budding ballerina and her quest for the perfect ballet shoes, to the husband who had to intercept his wife’s returned Zappos package in which he’d packed her jewellery, these simple, low budget commercials are a funny way of illustrating the brand’s core value in a way that we can all relate to.

View ads at Zappos

It’s safe to say that right now we are loving all things retro, from sneakers and food packaging, to hand crafts and computer games. New York-based illustrator Wahyu Ichwandardi has taken nolstagia to a step further by creating a teaser trailer for the forthcoming second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, “Star Wars The Last Jedi” on an Apple IIc. Using an Apple II series computer from the 1980s, he hand drew each shot and recreated each frame using Dazzle Draw, a bitmap paint programme and a  vintage KoalaPad graphics tablet. Whatever can we expect next? Hand written letters?

Wahyu Ichwandardi’s retro take on Star Wars

The official trailer

With the huge selection of baby strollers on the market, it’s hard for parents to know which one to buy. American baby product manufacturer, Kolcraft offered parents the chance to experience stroller travel from the other side of the handlebar, thanks to its Contours Baby Stroller Test-Ride.

The specially created adult-size stroller not only gave parents a chance to test out their baby’s ride, it also provided the company with a highly successful PR opportunity.

With all the advertising platforms available within digital technology, it’s ironic that outdoor advertising is bigger than ever. Outside of the digital jungle, well executed, real world marketing exercises not only create a lasting impression for those who experience it first hand, the spreading of images and experiences virally allows the message to be communicated globally. Here are some of our favourite examples:

IKEA, France
To celebrate the opening of the new IKEA store in Paris, the Swedish furniture retailer built a 9×10 metre vertical roomset that customers could climb.

SBAB Bank, Sweden
The bank raised “interest on a savings account” (sparränta) by celebrating every new customer account opened with a fanfair. Pity the poor neighbours.

Coca Cola, Germany
As a play on the tagline “It’s the little things that make us happy” the soft drinks giant placed miniature kiosks selling mini cans of Coca Cola throughout five major German cities.

As we bid a fond “arrivederci” to this year’s Milan Design Week, it’s time to assimilate the impressions of the more than 3,000 brands on show around the city last week. From furniture and lighting, to technology and architecture, Milan remains a centre for creativity.

The ubiquitous use of colour added to the playful, childlike element of the Salone del Mobile. La Triennale di Milano featured Giro Giro Tondo, an exhibition of Italian Design devoted to the world of children, while at Superstudio, designer Tokujin Yoshioka imagined the future through a child’s eyes when developing the futuristic S.F chair for LG’s impressive S.F_Senses of the Future installation. Using cutting-edge technology from LG, the designer created seventeen illuminated chairs made from thin, double-sided organic light-emitting diode (OLED) that emitted brilliant flashes of colour across each surface.

Nendo presented a more subdued, but no less impressive installation at the store of fashion designer Jil Sander. The Japanese design studio, headed by Oki Sato, presented Invisible Outlines, a collection of works based on how we identify and position objects by subconsciously following invisible “outlines”. The action of opening a door or drawer and 3-D graphics were brought to life, while a poetic, jellyfish-like collection of submerged vases showed a delicate, moveable boundary between the objects and water, defined only by colour.

Sustainability has become an increasingly prevalent element within design. From renewable materials such as bamboo, to traditional hand craft techniques, among all the technology and innovation, it is good to see that the human element of design is alive and flourishing. One of the most beautiful examples of sustainability in the city is Il Bosco Verticale – Vertical Forest – a pair of apartment blocks whose facades are home to almost 17,000 species of trees and plants. Designed by Boeri Studio and completed in 2014, the 76 and 110 metre high landmarks have become a model for green building.

This week Adentity will be taking to the streets of Milan in search of inspiration. Milan Design Week is the biggest event on the annual design calendar, where manufacturers and designers from around the world present the latest products, trends and concepts in industrial, furniture and lighting design.

With thousands of exhibitions taking place simultaneously around the city, innovative marketing is key. Stand out events from last year included Lee Broom’s clever “Salone del Automobile” mobile installation and the godfather of lighting, Ingo Maurer, who set Milan’s landmark Torre Velasca aglow, transforming it into a red beacon to mark the location of Audi’s City Lab exhibition.

Today Apple launched yet another new product – the iPhone 7 in red. “But the iPhone 7 was launched last year, so what’s the big deal?” you may ask. Well, this is just one of the latest branding exercises for a good cause. Take the desirability of a premium product, produce it in a limited edition colour, give all the proceeds to a worthwhile cause (in this case it is RED, an organization dedicated to fighting AIDS) and you have a winning campaign that benefits everyone.

Of course,  branding for a good cause is nothing new, particularly in the fashion and cosmetics industry, where limited edition t-shirts and lipsticks are just some of the items that have historically raised awareness of both the brand and the cause in question. Who can forget the fantastic Marc Jacobs’ “Protect the skin you’re in” t-shirt campaign featuring naked celebrities, which raised awareness of the dangers of skin cancer?

However, it’s not just charities, or products that benefit from the CSR aspect of marketing. The toothpaste manufacturer, Colgate, recently launched a  clever Snapchat ad encouraging us to turn off the water tap when brushing our teeth to coincide with World Water Day. If brands can raise money and awareness that potentially help us all, while raising their profile at the same time, it’s a win-win situation.

Since the mid 20^th century, architecture has influenced the world of advertising. Modernist architecture in particular has become something of a standard backdrop for every type of product. Its aspirational allure has come to symbolize everything from quality and good design, to innovation.

As architects push the boundaries of imagery through the use of technology and sophisticated creative software advertising is, again, following suit by employing rendering techniques used by architectural studios on a daily basis, to create glossy, futuristic backdrops, as well as dynamic product shots. Top rendering studios boast a diverse range of clients, from international architecture and property development firms, to audio and video manufacturers and furniture producers. That high end audio system you see in the magazine? It probably hasn’t even left the factory yet, and chances are its slick, luxurious backdrop is a collage of different elements all woven together to create one striking visual.

As Paul Keskeys’ article reveals, some brands are not only applying architectural rendering techniques, but also the architecture itself as inspiration to create witty, futuristic campaigns.

There’s nothing like colour to lift the spirit, as Emmanuelle Moureaux’s recent installation attests. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Art Center of Tokyo, the architect and designer created the poetic “Forest of numbers”, a rainbow hued matrix of 60,000 brightly coloured numbers suspended from the ceiling, arranged in three dimensional grids. Through a cut out section which forms a pathway, visitors are invited to walk through the numeric forest which occupies the 2,000 square metre exhibition space.

A native of France, Moureaux moved to Japan more than 20 years ago. Fascinated by the vibrant colours of Tokyo, colour remains the guiding principle of her work, combined with the concept of ‘Shikiri’, which literally means “dividing (creating) space with colours”. Through the use of various colourful elements Mourreaux creates divisions that are subtle and light, evoking a sense of stillness and visual stimulation at the same time.

Read more at Designboom

During a recent visit to Sri Lanka, it was heartening to see Standard Chartered bank in Colombo promoting the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, also known as “The Global Goals For Sustainable Development.” The brightly coloured pictograms depicting each of the 17 goals were proudly displayed on the building’s white facade. Due to the strong visual identity of the campaign, this simple action is an extremely effective way of raising awareness of the challenges that we all face around the world.

Like outdoor advertising –  one of the few forms of traditional advertising which continues to thrive – this clever use of imagery delivers the message clearly and effectively. The prominent placement of these 17 images on a high street bank’s facade brings each topic into our everyday conversations and, hopefully, our actions too.

For more information, visit United Nations global goals

It’s been more than half a century since Lawrence Herbert created the colour measurement standard, Pantone Matching System (PMS), yet it still remains the global language of the creative industry. Pantone affects every aspect of our lives, from the clothes that hang in our wardrobe, to the packaging of our favourite breakfast cereals.

Recently the Pantone Color Institute released its latest semi-annual report, the Pantone Spring 2017 Fashion Color Report Inspired by nature, this vibrant, playful palette is all about emotional appeal. At the top is denim-inspired Niagara (17-4123) a cool, relaxing aquatic hue, and even classic pastels, such as Island Paradise (14-4620) and Pale Dogwood (13-1404) remain on the fashion radar. However, for the most part bold, punchy shades, such as Lapis Blue (19-4045), tropical Pink Yarrow (17-2034) and vivacious Primrose Yellow (13-0755) dominate, evoking energy and confidence. These bold shades complement the current trends for simple, clean packaging emboldened with childlike graphics and creative typography in bold, playful tones.

In an article published in Wired magazine,  journalist David Pierce extols the intelligence and capabilities of digital assistants. In particular, he discusses a new app, currently at prototype stage called Hound. Created by the company behind the music recognition app SoundHound, Hound takes voice recognition and artificial intelligence to a whole new level. According to Pierce, when asked a variety of questions in increasing complexity, and with follow-up questions, Hound responded accurately every time.

This is great, but we can’t help but wonder how long it will take before such AI will be infultrated by marketing strategies. Just as Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) taps into our online activity to predict and influence our future purchases,  just how long will it be until brands start paying off our digital assistants?

How will we be able to trust our portable gurus to provide us with sound, unbiased information? And how will it offer unbiased answers to political questions – something that the media still cannot achieve? Only time will tell, but we confess that we’re looking forward to the day that AI can help with elusive search for the perfect wardrobe. Gotta love technology.

Smart technology has had an incredible impact on marketing and advertising, but as strategies become modular, the message should remain aligned.

This is the era of customisation. From the sneakers on our feet to the interior of our cars. Apps have transformed our telephones into indispensable tools that facilitate (and some would possibly argue even control) our lives. One of the effects of this is that products, processes, even the way we sometimes think has become fragmented – modular.

Google Ara – work smart, play smart

Tapping into this zeitgeist, Google recently announced the 2017 launch of its new modular phone concept Google Ara. Incorporating the concept of Dutch design graduate Dave Hakkens’ 2013 Phonebloks concept, Google Ara is a smartphone built around a central module board. Separate modules offer a wide range of capabilities, from high quality video or audio recording, to scanners, etc., allowing users to fully customize their smartphone. However, unlike the original concept, which offered removable basic components, such as battery, screen and microphone aimed at reducing electronic waste, these elements are incorporated into Google’s device.

Fairphone – the ethical choice

Meanwhile, during this year’s London Design Week, held in June, the Dutch company Fairphone, presented its second generation modular smartphone, Fairphone 2. Fairphone is credited with launching the world’s first modular phone as far back as 2013. Although technology wise, it is doubtful that it will be any match for Google’s new baby, Fairphone’s USP is sustainability. Unlike Google Ara, almost all of the Fairphone 2 components are removable, including battery, screen, camera, etc., allowing users to replace broken parts and upgrade easily. Fairphone also focuses on ethical production, including sourcing minerals for production from mines that support local economies, rather than armed militias.

Media’s changing landscape

Modular communication has even impacted media strategies. Print, television, web and radio used to be the simple and clearly defined mediums for advertising and marketing, but the crossover between each area (interactive TV, on-demand TV, podcasts, streaming and social media, etc.) have made strategies a lot more complicated. No longer confined to four simple categories, they have become an intricate web of channels and options all interlinked. They have become modular. Never before has marketing been so refined or so precise as it allows brands to define and reach their target customers like never before.

However, like the aforementioned modular devices, the most vital thing for success is a strong, solid framework upon which to build. The lesson to be learned is that no matter how smart the technology, or how sustainable the device, just like the modular smartphone concept, modular communication must be synced to one clear message if it is to succeed.

With an increasing number of 360° videos appearing on our daily Facebook feeds, the introduction of Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, it seems that virtual reality is here to change the game of user experience.

Jumping directly into an immersive environment and experiencing how’s it like to be physically there? Yes. Wearing a chunky device on the face? Maybe not.

We believe that using virtual reality for brand marketing would take off only when there are little barriers of participation to the users i.e. no one needs to invest in any equipment. So it’s really up to the marketers to take the brave leap and make virtual reality, a reality.

This year, we have already seen some exciting developments in the scene.

Taking simulator rides to the next level, Six Flags Amusement Park brings virtual reality to the roller coaster.

Go on a virtual tour at Ocean Spray’s cranberry farm and see the most beautiful harvest in the world.

Even Marriot Hotels are jumping on the VR bandwagon and creating VR tours for their guests.