On Zuma, Kermit, MacDonalds and radioactive avocados.

I have always believed in a holistic approach towards branding. Communication, R&D, product development, sales & retail, it all helps to create your brands 'point of gravity'.

In talks & seminars on branding, I then talk about examples of this holistic vision and brand 'coherence'. That the CEO's assistants wardrobe is as important as the decisions made in the boardroom, and more.
Now, having lived in South Africa, I realise that the rest of the world not always knows what's going on there. Believe you me, the country has a whole lot more to offer to the rest of us than just crime statistics.
I would even say that some of the young country's characteristics should be adopted in other countries. And it's not just the weather or the wildlife, I'm thinking consumer services, people friendliness, retail concepts and kids birthday venue concepts.
Of course, the country has had its issues to overcome, and Nelson Mandela 's ANC played an important role in getting the country where it is today.
There is a bit of a downside to that, as not everyone at the ANC has the same vision or knowledge on corporate governance. And that's a bit of a understatement.

Now getting back to the wardrobe example. Have a look at the newest ANC..heu... casual wear. They took the holistic brand approach to new heights. Walter Van Beirendonck must have gotten an Antwerp-Joburg ticket to come in and design these.
I could live with a female leather jacket wearing ANC powerwoman. It's the male ones that are only perfect when your name is Michael Jackson. Pity you have died.

The choice of green opts out some colours that were strongly united in Mandela's great brand payoff: the 'rainbow nation'. The ubuntu greenishness now unites Kermit, The new MacDonalds logo, Zuma and radioactive avocados.


Whether these greenish blingbling vests are proof of good governance, however, is to be seen. But these jackets will surely light up in the dark, when there is a power cut somewhere. It will then be easy to spot the one who is to blame.





In case you're interested, place your order here

Bamboo, a convenient root. (trend_research)

From now, I'll be posting on stories about concepts from Labmembers that strike me. That could predict trends, since we can use our growing database of concepts to see whether a certain story, product or habit, is being tackled by more people from different backgrounds and cultures. These stories will be published on different platforms, such as Flanders DC, Signs of the Times and other. More later.



About the concept

'Living Objects' is about furniture made of living organisms. The table on the picture gives us an example: the table litterally grows from the bottom up. Bamboo grows in 8 weeks up to the hight of a table, and maintains its hight & width for the upcoming three years. You can thus grow your own table legs. Living Objects is a concept by Floris Wubben.
Check Floris' Labfile on addictlab

More about Bamboo
Bamboo is a grasses family. Originally it served as a source for food as (its tiny bamboo shoots) but it can be used for many purposes. It is the giant of all grasses and one of the fastest-growing plants. Bamboo grows mostly in Asia (tropical -subtropical) and in warm places such as Central America and parts of South America. Its stem due to its hardness is very often being used for construction and furniture material. This character is formed from the mineral silica that absorbed from the soil stored in the hollow and the jointed stem while bamboo grows.

Why Bamboo on this trend lab pages?
It's quite in to discuss about global warming. Obviously a number of organisations and brands jump on this, as they hope the positive values for the good cause will reflect on their own.
Yet in how many cases the interest is genuine? What sustainable changes can we expect? Bamboo is a possible part of the solution. It can get an important part of C02 out of the air. You will be seeing bamboo back in different ways and usages.








Catch the new brand MOBBOA.
MOBBOA stands for fashionable bamboo shirts and bamboo bodywear. Mobboa also stands for a couple of "house values" : oneness, consciousness, honesty and respect for man and nature, all values we try to live to every day again. One euro per Mobboa bamboo shirt sold will go to a charitable thrust that support and practices the values described above. This bamboo t'shirt contains 70% of bamboo fabric making it supersoft, light, fresh and thus very comfortable to wear. Mobboa bamboo shirts are by nature anti-bacterial and hypo-allergenic. Its cut makes the shirt follow extremely well the curves of the female hips.When you wear bamboo, you actively give a positive contribution to our environment. An argument that counts in view of the important climatological changes worldwide.


Bamboo clothes are soft as silk and yet durable : bamboo feels as soft and light as silk and therefore makes it very pleasant and comfortable to wear, certainly on the naked skin. Yet, bamboo clothes are more durable and cheaper than silk and you can put them in the washer and drier.
Hypoallergenic : the risk of allergic reactions on contact with the skin is minimal, because growing bamboo does not require pesticides, insecticides or fertilizers.
Antibacterial : the natural bamboo fiber contains an agent with a naturally occurring bacteriostatic property. This means bacteria do not cultivate on them, thereby inhibiting the development of unpleasant body odours. Most other tissues get the same property by undergoing some chemical treatment (that can more often lead to hyperallergic reactions. Tests show that -even after 50 washes- 70% of bacteria, which were purposely incubated on the bamboo fabric, are still eliminated.
Breathable : because of its unique microstructure ( a matrix with various microscopic gaps) perspiration can be absorbed and evaporated much faster than is the case with cotton, wool or other e.g. synthetic fibers. That is why bamboo clothes stick much less to your skin, keep your body cooler (up to 2°C lower than when wearing other fabrics) and drier.
Biodegradable : bamboo fibers are degraded biologically within a short period of time .

Bamboo for kids : children will quickly discover the softness and comfort of bamboo towels, washcloths and bath robes !
Our woven bamboo bath robes for kids are "top of the bill" : they have a bunny design on the side pocket, are silky soft to wear and of high standard quality and finishing.
They absorb faster more moisture than 100% cotton robes and also dry faster.Bamboo by nature has antibacterial properties.The owner of a bamboo bath robe contributes to the preservation of our planet.This bath robe undoubtedly will become their number one outfit afther a bath, shower or sauna.

information gathered from different sources. Be sure to check :
Widianto Utomo
designlabresearch
Mobboa
Check Floris' Labfile on addictlab
Other related work by Labmembers
Dr. Bamboozle
Bambooligature
Aimulet

Reflections on new work uploaded on addictlab.com (1)

I'll be commenting some of the great concepts that are being uploaded on our addictlab.com site. Here is work from a Belgian promising talent, Gert De Clercq
It's called Black Box.
Technique used : Acryl on Carton boxes.
And the message ?
What first seems no more then boxes with well known brands printed on them, gets a twist when you focus a bit more.
All logo's have been subtily altered, changed, creating humoristic, sometimes cynical but always intelligent messages.
The boxes are conveniently empty... Aren't todays marketing hypes not all about the packaging and not about the content?





Go to Gert's Labfile

Smart brand consultancy with build-in chaos

Too many brands act as if they rule the world. Well, in some cases it is actually true.
I was just listening to an interview by a local soft drink reseller on the streets of Johannesburg claiming that his one-person-shop will have to close down since Coca Cola announced shortage of carbon dioxide. (The Gas that adds the fizz to cooldrinks.) Or that other global brand using stars and stripes to play the worlds policeman in regions such as Irak.
I saw this great cartoon of the brands logo: the American flag, where the stars where left out , with the message: 'Didn't earn your stars today.')

But I didn't want to talk politics.

Here you are, five star marketeer, paid by your client to bring your client' s brand in the picture.
But do you think beyond the actual brief? Do you think about the relevance of what you do?
Like in chess, how many steps ahead are you thinking? Do you take into account 'external' elements that could influence your creation?

Let me rephrase that, since 'external' elements will anyway, sooner or later, be an influence to what you have created.
How do you cope? Anticipate? Panic? Or do you always - like I believe you should - have a build-in chaos system to be a balance to the theoretical strategical and thus rational level of what you wanted to obtain?

Here is a project of AddictLabmember Olivier Vanderaa:
Brand\Non brand is a short photographic series using brands displayed in real life on billboards and neon signs as a fictionnary material. It aims to treat these advertising objects as a plastical material, going often beyond the border of existing marketing schemes, real spaces and standard commercial messages and significations.

I love Olivier's work - check his citysnapper projects, by the way, on addictlab.com

But look at the picture of the Massive Logo. (Massive is a lighting company)
I'm sure the marketing team that commissioned the logo to be put on the roof of the building, didn't take into consideration ... that local traffic forced a whole lot of people commuting to look at the logo... from the other side.
Not just once. But everytime they go to their work.
How do you take that into account, cost-per-contact-wise?

In the case of the MacDonald logo, also part of Olivier's work, you must admit that their brainbashing communication is quite fruitful. How much of the light should be broken so that we wouldn't see the logo anymore?









I welcome all pictures depicting brands & logo's in unusual situations, in your neighbourhood.
Jan@addictlab.com

The Vroom & Dreesmann paradox.

The Vroom & Dreesmann paradox is my way to describe the apparent limitations of Addictlab - not being able to make big money on a short period of time.

V&D approached Addictlab last year, attracted to the level of innovation we showed at the resent 100% Design fair in Rotterdam.
V&D is a supermarket chain in Holland, that apparently lost their innovative way of doing things over the last 120 year.

The concept / briefing was brave. Let's define and produce 120 new products to celebrate this anniversary, and put V&D on the map again as a proactive, caring, and innovative brand. V&D wanted to lead again, in stead of keep on tracking behind.

So far so good. In all honesty, I am convinced that with our addictlab-system we can deliver.
Timing was an issue, complete madness, actually, but speed is one of our assets, so I attracted more labresearchers at Addictlab Brussels to start working on this. We do have a huge database of people and concepts.

For me, however, there were some extra points I wanted to add.

First: the selection of ideas and concepts. My personal view on things is that we should think about the social relevance of our actions. Better not just think about the product we create itself, but also about the surrounding that changes because you create.
With a selection of 120 products, we really could make a difference.
One of the concepts I wanted to push was a USB stick with the housing cut out in wood in a West African country.
The Portugese designer Pedro Alegrià wanted to make a point with this design creating a bridge between western society needing new tools like USB sticks, and production facilities in Sao Tomé. (see also Ad!dict inspiration book on GAMING)
Obviously , you could not start sourcing this in China.

Brings me to another important point in collaborations between Ad!dict Creative Lab and companies like V&D: The importance of honouring the designer/creative and the link to the addictlab-system.
This seems so logic: you attract consumers by showing them innovative products, bring authentic (!) stories, explain the reason why, who did it, why, and make a link to the creative mind or group of creatives who are behind it. All should benefit from that. The consumer, the creator, the facilitator (addictlab) and the brand V&D

Now, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convince the V&D management on those two points.
We had a couple of meetings - one meeting took me 3 hours on the road from Brussels to Amsterdam and exactly 20 minutes for the meeting and then 3 hours back - and it was clear that from their side, they were struggling with the briefing, the sourcing, the concept. Where as the initial briefing was that we'd go as far as possible.

You had the difficult discussion on the 'owner' of the concepts, or at least the communication of the people behind the concepts.
And you had the budget discussions. They wanted to earn money on every of the 120 products. Making it a mere commercial project. Whereas it was and still is my conviction we should add some products that might not sell too well, but create rumour and proof of V&D's clear will to innovate. in that case, the production of those products is an investment, on a branding level, not an income. On the long run, it would generate more business, in stead of short turn income.
Then you see that those big companies are not structured to have a coherence in their actions: each department works on its own. This was clearly a project that was not running through the whole company as a branding opportunity. A pity, it is.

The project didn't take off. With us, anyway. I believe they even saw me as a threat, as someone wanting to put my own brand on 'their' products. Of course, I would have loved to have this addictlab-shop in the shop concept, where you'd go in your supermarket and find products by Addictlab members. I still do, and it's on my wish list ever since. But it would have gone further then just my ego: it would have given 120 creatives a unique platform, it would have given the press 120 reasons and stories to write about the V&D, and a lot of consumers inspiration, humour and a positive vibe

V&D didn't even wanted to have the names of the designers, their companies, or our link. As 'they had too much subbrands' already. Thinking about it now, I'm quite sure I had to stick with our mission, bringing innovation via our system of labmembers. But I see it as a mistake from my end that I couldn't convince them. And of course, I missed a lot of business.
Hence the Vroom & Dreesmann paradox.

Comes a time, comes a place.
Our ADDICTLAB testshop prooves it could work. We just need to find people with the same vision.