Itizen’s Objects Tell Stories of Now and Then

by Anna Otieno

What’s Happening

• Itizen, a new service that provides trackable quick-response (QR) code tags for physical objects, wants to take show and tell into the 21st century.

• Using an Itizen TrackIt Tag—which is available in both stick-on and sew-on varieties—anyone can tag an object, register the tag, post a digital anecdote online, and track the object’s whereabouts.

• Artisans can differentiate their creations by giving consumers auditory insight into their creative process, while curious consumers benefit from additional knowledge about products and creators.

• Smart-phone owners can use their device and a reader app to scan an object’s code and access its story. No smart phone, no problem. Each TrackIt Tag also includes an alphanumeric code.

What This Means to Business

• Consumers are using tech tools to imbue everyday objects with added meaning. Digital tagging will continue to open new doors in the world of marketing as brands and consumers connect for increasingly personalized encounters.

Monocle Magazine’s New Perspective on Retail

by Sarah Barker

 

What’s Happening

 

• London-based print and online magazine Monocle focuses on international affairs, business, culture, and design—but it also runs a retail business on the side. Recently, a Monocle Shop outpost opened in New York’s West Village, offering a tiny space with home goods, books, music, and clothing from socially responsible sources.

 

• The shop's tightly curated selection reflects the magazine’s global, cutting-edge, and artisanal sensibilities.

 

• Claiming that retail around the globe is “too large,” the magazine’s stores are didactic and serve as a revenue stream.

 

• Monocle Shops are in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and New York.

 

What This Means to Business

 

• Small in scale, a passion for exclusivity and quality—artisan-minded consumers love selective shops.

 

• Are magazines dead? Not the way Monocle sees it. It’s created a see-it/read-it/buy-it/live-it integrated community. Turning cutting-edge words and ideas into an equally cutting-edge business model is a real page-turner.

Travelers and Agents Are “Mad as Hell”

by Sarah Barker

What’s Happening

• The American Society of Travel Agents, the Consumer Travel Alliance, and the Business Travel Coalition launched MadAsHellAboutHiddenFees.com to garner support and lobby the Department of Transportation (DOT) to mandate full transparency about extra fees.

• The group named September 23, 2010—the day they presented their petition to the DOT—“Mad as Hell Day.” They asked travelers to share horror stories about hidden fees and sign an online petition.

• The Mad as Hell folks want anyone booking travel to have access to any and all fees before booking.

What This Means to Business

• Delays, canceled flights, tight quarters, scanner searches—travel is getting back to its travail roots. Transparency may not make the road smoother, but it gives travelers a sense of control so they can prepare for the bumps.

• Travelers recognize that real service costs have always been there, but somehow bundled into the package. The frustration isn’t about fabricated airline fees, it’s about an a la carte system that seemingly turns each and every travel detail into an add-on item.

Kids: We’re Angry About Health and Fitness

by Stefania Revelli

What’s Happening

• The Coalition of Angry Kids (COAK) is a nationwide initiative to encourage adults to become better health and fitness role models for kids.

• Created by Anytime Fitness, the coalition reminds adults of their influential role through kids’ video testimonials and letters—which state things like “You play more videogames than I do, Dad.” Or, “If you want us to play an hour a day, then come out and play with us.”

• Anytime Fitness offers a free trial membership, a pass to Anytime Health (the chain’s online resource), and a personal trainer for those taking the COAK pledge.

What This Means to Business

• One in three children and teenagers may be considered overweight, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As the top predictor of childhood obesity, parents are beginning to recognize their own role and share of responsibility in the problem.

• A nationwide effort to include all adults—not just parents and caregivers—in the fight against obesity gives everyone a chance to achieve health hero status.

Online Activists Rescue Gulf-Stranded Company

by Hans Eisenbeis

What’s Happening

• Feelgoodz is an activist company that sells beach sandals and funnels the proceeds to nonprofits. But the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this summer stranded a major shipment of flip-flops that was supposed to be sold through Whole Foods during the prime summer months. That left the company high and dry—and in danger of defaulting on a loan that would fund its next round of philanthropic giving.

• When the story was published in September on Change.org, readers mobilized. Groupon members participated in a group buying effort, and the delayed shipment of flip-flops sold out, rescuing Feelgoodz to fight for another day—and another noble cause.

What This Means to Business

• We expect to see a surge in “ideal mob” activity like this in coming months and years, as consumers use the power of social networking to patronize what they see as worthy goods and services.

• Call it enlightened self-interest. In this case, thousands of consumers got a discount on sandals while saving a sustainable company. Win-win.