Trendwatching advice

Want to know how Trendwatching thinks about, collects and applies trends: http://trendwatching.com/briefing/

It's an interesting way to spend 15 minutes of reading time and has a couple of good little info nuggets along the way.

Make referrals easy

(Scott) The other day a friend was out walking her neighborhood. She came across a freshly-painted house with a big sign in the front yard advertising the services of the paint company. On the sign, the painter had taped a small stack of business cards (in addition to the company phone number printed boldly on the sign).

What a simple, but effective idea! You see, when I'm out for a walk and see a beautifully painted house that reminds me my place could use a paint job... I may not be ready to call the painter that moment. However, grabbing a business card means its easy to make the call from home later. It reduces the possibility that I'll forget the painter's number (from the sign) and name (so I can't look him / her up in the phone book). In doing so, it creates new business.

I really like this as an example of simple marketing. We often get pretty darn fancy about promoting companies and products via flashy websites, dynamic multi-media campaigns, or even just glossy brochures... when sometimes all it takes is a well-positioned business card.

BONUS: Would love to see the painter tape a picture of the house "BEFORE" the paint job onto the yard sign. That'd make it even more clear the value that was delivered.

The Giving Threshold

(Scott) Out of sheer coincidence today, I had my hands on a bottle of Athena water and a bottle of Ethos water. Both are closely tied to critical causes...

Ethos donates $0.05 from the sale of every bottle to investing in clean water sources in developing nations.

Athena donates 100% of its profits to women's cancer research.

Which leads me to wonder, what is the "giving" threshold amidst the corporatocracy? Should we demand more?

You can find Ethos at Starbucks, and the company aggressively touts the product's socio-economic ties. It uses the cause as the core marketing message. However, I would bet that the $0.05 a bottle is a fraction of the profit generated by a sale. Compare directly to Athena, whose sole purpose is funneling money to cancer research.

Or, bring Target into the equation. I constantly hear promos on National Public Radio where Target boasts about its giving - it is indeed America's "Most Generous Corporation", however donations amount to only 2.1% of profits (2004 numbers). Is this sufficient?

Wrangling this back to our idea theme... could businesses like Ethos and Target find more innovative uses for their profit? Could they donate more and still strike an appropriate balance with shareholder interests? As innovation drivers, should we be encouraging our clientele to explore giving to grow equity and strengthen ties with key customer segments? Where do innovation and charity collide?

Mobile Back-up

(Adam) I came across this https://www.mobyko.com which is a free service where you can back up all your mobile phone numbers. Obviously tapping into a large consumer need. I presume it will start off free and then graduate to a charge but still a good idea and if they keep the charge low enough e.g. £1 - £2 then i can see it being a winner.

Also handy for those of you who have a tendency to lose their phones ;)