Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Now, even the cleaning lady can put her CEO out with the garbage.



Concept.
These wheelie garbage bins are turned into mobile sitting units, cupboards and more.

Recycling.
The eco-recycling concept is pretty cool for children, with customised designs, patterns, bright pillows. The objects will raise awareness related to eco-design, recycling and sustainability. They will love the mobile aspect of it, and the use of their own little space. Yet the Garbage Sofas can also serve perfectly for your board meetings.

Functional.
You are not disturbed or disturbing when using your cellphone, laptop or reading a book. When you want to take part in a conversation, simply roll your seat closer to the others.

Immediate solution for banks & board rooms.
The garbage sofa's are especially designed to be a direct solution for when your executive board is taking all the wrong and irresponsible decisions. Now, even the cleaning lady can put her CEO out with the garbage.

The Garbage sofa's will be shown at the Open Lab event in Johannesburg, South Africa. Graphic designers, artists and other creative minds wanting to customise a Garbage sofa, please get in contact.

jan@addictlab.com


Labfile addictlab:
LAbfile Garbage Sofa


Monday, March 23, 2009

Message to twelebrities.

Dear Famous celebrity twitterer.

I kind of get the hang of twitter by now. My job (and hobby and lifetime preoccupation) has taught me to look for new concepts, and try to capture its essence. I myself am small twitter-fish, though. Having about 300 or so followers.

With a bit of nostalgia I look back at the beginning of your and mine twitter career, some 190 followingers ago, when the novelty and mystery made us actually engage in twitter-conversations. I even believe John Cleese was or maybe still is following me as well.

Dear Twelebrity, don't get me wrong. I do am interested in your daily whereabouts, like following Demi Moore to a Berlin trip, or see her flirting with her husband via twitter, it's sweet. And this is really not meant ironically. I really think it's interesting to read about your life and your thoughts.

But that's the problem. Twitter gives me more then I can handle.
Before Twitter, I knew you existed, could admire your work (or not), and you were text blurbs - or preferably blurry pictures of you doing something nasty - in the global popular press. So we learned about your pregnancies, your Hollywood gossip, your addictions, your love lives and your court orders. Your illegal sex-video, though, I have never seen.

With Twitter, it's worse. The damn Twitter-thing gives me the impression that I can be closer to you. Read about you, directly from you, and - worse - interact with you. I have the impression that you would actually engage in a conversation.
Now, without any boasting to be done, I really believe that for some of you 'famous' people, I think my life and experience could actually be as good as an inspiration as vice versa. I truly believe that we should have a coffee, discuss life, creativity and more. I truly believe with some of you, I could get along.

Yet I can't get to you. The twavalanche keeps on growing, and makes me one of your zillion followers. 'Followers' meaning that I'm behind you, where as I believe any decent conversation is happening with someone next to you.

Of course I can retweet. Of course I can reply, as I see others do. I even see you react and reply back from time to time. But it's a lottery thing. It will probably make the retweeters their day, since you, their hero, has stepped down from your Hollywood cloud and has shown a beginning of human interaction. They will probably save your retweet on a usb stick and cherish it like a piece of a Saint's real bone relic from a bygone era.

I don't want to play the lottery. Or worse, lose myself in a Web2.0 equivalent of a religion. I've rejected other religions a long time ago, and at least he could walk on water.

So we have to stop meeting like this. And that's why I will unfollow you. You will not notice this, it won't hurt a bit. And I will at least have not the impression to be close to you. Unless, of course, you react. Retweet, engage. Then we can discuss. You can start following me on my twitter account.

http://www.twitter.com/JanVanMol

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Generating Strategic thinking for companies: Danone.




Here is what was published on the Addictlab.com site.


Addictlab's brainstorming sessions offer Danone South Africa an important strategic eye-opener.



Children should have their daily intake of calcium, in order to have their bone structure developed appropriately. The innovation research led by Addictlab's founder and brand specialist Jan Van Mol therefor decided that it was important to focus on the regularity of the intake, rather then on the different tastes.

This is but one of the outcomes of the brainstorming sessions commissioned by Danone South Africa, for which Addictlab used it's own 'Creative X-Ray' methodology, using creative resources from diverse cultures and disciplines. The lab delivered a concept database, with about 20 ideas that could be implemented, ranging from strategical concepts, products, packaging, brand fashion, above & below the line communication as well as traffic builders and promotional items. All ideas were generated by an out of the box approach, followed by a Danino brand filter.

Now, over 6 months later, the 'every day your Danino' concept has been adapted to the existing 6-packs, and are on shelves in South Africa. In stead of communicating the different tastes, every little pot now has received it's day of the week, promoting and explaining the necessity of an every day intake.

The 6-pack version consists of the 5 weekdays and 'Weekend'. The packs are now sold with a Day of the Week magnet to emphasize on the changed concept. Regardless to say that this concept is beneficial for the kid's calcium-intake as well as for the volume sales of Danino.

This example shows that not all ideas for innovation imply long term research and high cost implementation. Addictlab , though, was not involved in the final packaging design, and the TV and Radio campaign, which raised an important question in the addictlab organisation. Jan Van Mol: 'We have all these executional specialists in the database, so much craftsmanship, we could offer this as well. With the benefit of high quality and low cost delivery, but the danger of becoming a more executional supplier in stead of a like minded thinking partner. The fact that this concept made it through the whole process, however, is a statement on both the power of Addictlab as well as the will to innovate from Danone'.