It may seem like the perfect blog entry for our ‘Brand Atmospheres’ blog, even though some of you may have already learned about this in a past edition of Wired magazine. You might have noticed that i took a couple of days off to rejuvinate while visiting a client up north. A part of the long weekend was trying to play catch up with magazines of past months, and this is when I came across ‘Flogos’. The image below explains it quite well: Flogos are foating logos, way above in the sky, created of soap-based foam formulations.

An interesting idea that can surely be used in very smart ways. Excited to see where marketers will take it. I guess we will see, if weather permits.

I was just searching for a note in my e-mail ‘Sent’ folder. This is what I found when I paid attention to the ‘Header’ and I felt it was a good last note before a summer weekend:

The latest issue of Creativity Magazine features a replica of the ’sticky-flags-to-bookmark-certain-pages-idea’ that I wrote about in April, when I gave kudos to Domino Magazine for introducing this engaging and fun tool.

For a magazine like Creativity, which is all about fresh ideas, it is rather sad to be recycling someone else’s idea. It is another great example of the ‘Me-Me-Me’ attitude of a lot of advertising creatives, and creatives in general, burying the lack of concept under a great pile of Wow-factor, even if it is an idea that is ‘borrowed’ from someone else, and even if it does not make half the sense in its new, adopted, environment.

Looking through the magazine’s special Awards edition, it sheds light onto why so much advertising does not make any sense anymore, although original in all sorts and forms. The center of the magazine has a chart detailing how many awards which agency, which Ad, which CD, et cetera has scored ‘this season’. This is the target audience, this is the market, this is what’s on the mind of Creative Directors out there. You, the consumer, definitely come second. (I wrote about the decline in Advertisings’ messaging a while back as well.)

On a positive side note, and to give Creativity some Kudos as well, the ‘Peel ‘n Taste’ experience I wrote about yesterday, see below, was featured in the very same issue of the magazine.

Just brilliant! For the first time today I saw a print ad where I could taste (Yes, TASTE!) the actual product.

Image, check. Text, check. Sample taste, check.

Okay, first it was an obvious evolution since we already had breath mints that came in paper sized ’strips’, and second it really was not an ad featuring an actual product, it was an ad for the company that produces these ad(d)-on features that goes by the name of ‘First Flavor’. It is called Peel ‘n Taste and it does work. Their sample was for Welch’s Grape Juice and it tasted just like the product.

I am amazed about the opportunities that this little invention presents to marketers.

Now try to suck on this onscreen. (Yes, I heard the rumours, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.)

What happens to an international consumer brand once it starts ailing and laying off employees?

In the worst case, a blog of former and current employees of the company would start sharing secrets and discussing all ‘the dirt’ online, as it occured in the case of Starbucks. Grab a cup of Joe and stop on by ‘Starbucks Gossip’ to get the latest in barista rage and witness how one of the great international consumer brand phenomenons is losing its’ magic.

This new found freedom of speech opens the possibilities of low cost, overnight, viral marketing tremendously, but it also adds a new level of risk management to brands worldwide, which makes another phenomenon the best call for help: Google.

Above you can see a proposed re-design of the Starbucks name and logo by architect James Biber, as featured in Architects magazine.