Is it an ad, is it a tribute, is it just so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful that I am lost for words………? Lovely work Sydney Opera House.
Be inspired further with the ‘making of’ video here.
Posted in Art, Branding, Innovators, Music, tagged Angus and Julia Stone, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Musicians, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company, Daniel Johns, Katie Noonan, Kev Carmody, Martha Wainwright, Neil Finn, Opera Australia, Paul Kelly, Sarah Blasko, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Symphony, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Temper Trap, The Australian Ballet on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Is it an ad, is it a tribute, is it just so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful that I am lost for words………? Lovely work Sydney Opera House.
Be inspired further with the ‘making of’ video here.
Posted in Cooking, Innovators, Simplicity, tagged 30 Minute Meals, back to basics, cooking, Healthy eating, how to make a salad, innovation, Jamie Oliver, salads, tossing salad on May 20, 2011| 1 Comment »
Have you ever had that experience when you remembered something so basic that you were surprised that you had ever forgotten it in the first place?
My epiphany this week was courtesy of Jamie Oliver, and his “30 Minute Meals” show. The way he builds a salad is interesting – make the dressing in the bowl, pile the salad leaves etc on top and then toss the whole lot with your hands just before serving.
Which made me realise that I had somehow forgotten the difference that tossing a salad with the dressing makes. I have been pouring the dressing on top, and then forcing myself to consume the “good for me” salad – after watching Jamie I tried his technique myself and the results were revolutionary: what was my boring old salad was suddenly full-flavoured and tasty and just delicious. Getting your hands in is a bit mucky (and yes you need to wash them first!) but it does the best job.
Loving this on a couple of levels: firstly, my salad tastes great, so bring on the healthy eating. On a broader level, it’s inspiring to find someone standing out in the super saturated cooking show/cookbook world by reminding consumers of the basics, but also doing it in a different, practical way.
So how does it apply to the brands and businesses we work on? It’s worth examining what we assume our consumers already know, as sometimes revisiting the basics and communicating them can be more powerful than a newfangled innovation.
Posted in Craft, Customising, Customizing, Etsy, Exhibitions, Handmade, Innovators, Makers, Online Commerce, Web Sites, tagged Craft, Customising, Customizing, Etsy, Exhibitions, Fashion, Handmade, Innovators, Makers, Online Commerce, Web Sites, websites on April 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Today let’s have a look at the amazing Etsy, and two things they are doing fabulously. Firstly, customising the consumers’ experience through serving a different home page specifically for new visitors, and secondly, how they are communicating that change to their current users.
Etsy have done some exceptional work in creating a highly engaged online community, and once again they are raising the bar. To quote Wikipedia, “Etsy is a social commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies.” Whilst certainly a commerce site, the focus is definitely on the social, with an emphasis on highlighting the uniquely individual nature of the products, and importantly, their sellers: shopping and selling on Etsy is a very personal experience. Esty does some great work in creating online and offline communities which in turn create amazing engagement with the site. If you haven’t come across Etsy before have a look here for an intro.
Our focus today is on a new initiative they are trialling for their homepage. The insight is that a new visitor to a site has different needs to a regular visitor: more focus on ‘what is it?’, ‘how does it work?’, and ‘give me a connection quickly’ (a reason to dig more deeply, or to come back) before I click onto my next search: sounds pretty basic really. Clearly many brand owners try to cater to this with varying degrees of success by incorporating elements which talk to the new and repeat consumer throughout the site, but how many brands really live this by presenting a customised experience to a new visitor?
Etsy are in the process of trialling a completely different homepage for a new visitor. The details of the change are discussed here. I love the ‘Taste Test’ tool they are featuring on it: reminds me of a more PC version of the “which girl is better looking” game from “The Social Network”. It’s worth a go and interesting how a spin of this revealed a whole new world of objects I wouldn’t even have thought to look for.
Etsy’s approach to executing this change is interesting too: in their announcement they are sharing the change, the reason why, and how they are going to trial it: letting seasoned (and highly engaged !) users be part of the process. It would have been so easy for the Etsy team to have just made the change and got on with it, but they recognise that if they take their community along with them they will ultimately get a better result: building higher engagement with current users and more effective conversion from new visitors.
So how do you customise your consumers’ experiences with your brand? Offline and on, show me who you think is doing a great job of this.