Author Archive
A night with Billy at the IKEA Hotel?
With IKEA branching out further into hotels, what will be its recipe for success?
In: Brand communications, Brand Experience, Brand Strategy, Innovation, Naming, Viewpoints · Tags: Hotels, Ikea
Grey is the new black
With ‘hundreds’ of brand briefs landing on my desk, iPad seems one of the few brands daring to target the grey generation.
In: Digital, Product design, Structural design, Viewpoints · Tags: 3D Branding, Apple, Grey generation, iPad
Take a seat in my brand
In line with the earlier blog post on Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, it does actually feel like I am entering a modern art gallery each morning with the temporary Feelosophy exhibition in Design Bridge London’s reception. For me it is the sound that has the greatest impact. You know that particular ‘installation’ sound. Or maybe the [...]
In: Brand communications, Brand Experience, Fashion, Product design, Viewpoints · Tags: Brand stretch, Wines
Can you feel it? Hel Yes!
I need to find an excuse to visit the ‘Finnish’ HEL YES! pop-up restaurant that’s opening in London next month. Described as a magical forest with a hefty dose of Nordic cool, I guess there is my excuse. We have the privilege to work with brands in Finland and there is something magical about that [...]
In: Brand Experience, Food and Drink, Ooh that's nice · Tags: Feelosophy, Finland, London Design Festival
Can ingredient brands work across categories?
Can ketchup equal good teeth? I am confused by the following launch: Xylitol Ketchup’ by Xyltiol UK. We are used to xylitol as an ingredient brand, the “Intel inside” of the chewing gums and toothpastes. Now we are exposed to it as a main brand for a ketchup. First of all it feels a bit [...]
In: Food and Drink · Tags: Brand stretch, Ingredient brands, Ketchup, Packaging design, Xylitol
Checking in/out the Levi’s hotel
There is something about staying in a truly great hotel. (Well, there is something about staying in a truly bad hotel, but let’s not go there now.) The next brand to be used to lure in more hotel guests is iconic Levi’s, following other recent fashion hotel additions as Missoni, Armani and LVMH (see earlier [...]
In: Brand Experience, Fashion, Viewpoints · Tags: Hotels, Levis
The mother of all vodkas
It’s early in the morning and I’m on a plane to Copenhagen. If not preparing for my meeting, I probably ought to devote myself to the latest “The 4-hour Workweek” book et al. Especially if time is the currency that counts. Instead I am reaching for the inflight magazine, escaping into the world of advertising: [...]
In: Food and Drink, Naming, Viewpoints · Tags: Denmark, Duty Free, Global Travel Retail, Vodka
Green On My Sleeve
Did you cycle to work this morning? Sorted out your recycling last night? As brand designers sustainability is another box on the wish list we need – and want – to tick off. The interesting thing is that the whole subject has shifted from I-think-green-and-I-don’t-care-about-status to Green-is-the-new-status. The Stylist magazine is reporting that researcher now say [...]
In: Innovation, Retail, Sustainability, Viewpoints · Tags: Environment, Trends
One tent too many
It’s festival season. It’s camping season. In a world where everything can be bought, the search seems to be for the unique and the intimate, the marginal and the magical. Come on, let’s go camping!
In: Fashion, Luxury, Retail, Viewpoints · Tags: Camping, Environment
Two in one branded products: can we design time?
Should we think about the future as designing time, rather than selling products and services? There are in essence two briefs: 1) Enrich time, 2) Save time. Branded experiences are meeting the first brief, and convenience solutions are naturally aiming for the second one. Multi-tasking is a subject that fascinates me or rather the idea [...]
In: Brand Experience, Digital, Fashion, Product design, Viewpoints · Tags: Fit Flop, iPhone
