Idea: Language of Love

The best way to motivate learning of foreign languages (and cultures) is of course through love and romance... (at least in my experience ;)

Here's an idea I had a couple of years ago, but never came around of actually setting it up. Feel free to use it if you like it. (just don't forget to enroll me for japanese class ;)

click on the image to enlarge.

Idea: LOST TOURS

Recently I lost my way in Bangkok, I had no map and spent several hours wandering through an unknown to me area of the city. As a reward I discovered several cool places that are not listed in Lonely Planet (and probably in no other guide) and are way off the usual tourist paths. This experience inspired the following business idea I had the next day which could be called Lost Tours.

The idea:

Wouldn’t it be great to find yourself in an unknown city, without any maps, just with a cell phone and a special “rescue” number?

This is how it works:

Tourists will be transported in a helicopter (or a car), blindfolded, to special destinations and left there on their own for a certain period of time which should be agreed upon in advance. For example, from one hour to several hours. When the time is over, “lost tourists” would call the rescue number, tell the operator their present coordinates, i.e. name of the street or a building they find themselves at the moment, and a helicopter will fly to pick them up.

The advantage:

Being purposefully lost in an unknown territory provides a special sensory experience of time and place.

You don’t have to worry about losing your bearings in an unknown territory. You know you can be rescued at anytime (just one phone call), and this gives you the freedom to wonder wherever you want – carefree about time and direction. This is Zen-like experience – focusing at what is in hand at the present moment without any destructions (like time pressure, am I going the right way, how do I find the way back, etc.)

This experience especially suits couples who want to have a relaxed romantic adventure.

Also people with not so good sense of direction, who want to have a stress-free adventure.

For those clients who wish to have a more gamely experience, we introduce some playful challenges. For example, using a special map with clues, tourists would have to search the “hot spots” of the area. It could be a cosy restaurant off the usual tourist path, a shop with interesting souvenirs, a bar with live band, etc. To make it especially attractive, the tourists will to pay only a fraction of the full price in the “hot spots”. This can be arranged through a partnership program with the selected businesses.

By the end of the tour clients are transported back to base without blindfolds.

Example:

Say you want to spend a few hours in foreign city somewhere in Europe. You don’t want to know in advance what city you want to be flown to (for maximum excitement, of course).

So you go to Lost Tour webpage (or office), fill in a form that would give the company idea of your interests and places you’ve already been to... and your home address.

Next thing, Lost Tour rep picks you up at home, gives you an iPod to cover your ears, blindfolds you… and takes you to your surprise destination (by car, plane or train, etc)…

Once in the area the rep takes awaythe iPod and blindfold and gives you a cell phone to call in case of emergency. With a handshake and “I will see you in a few hours” he leaves you alone and free to go … any direction.

Now, say you are in the middle of some European city, but you are not yet sure which one. You look on the street signs... you listen to people’s language. Aha, this might be Poland or Czech republic…. but what city? You go and ask a passer by: Excuse me, what is the name of this city? The passer by might not speak English or would look at you in surprise. You’re in Prague, my friend!

And you just keep walking enjoying the freedom of being lost. If you see something you want to buy - use your credit card.

Who might be interested to invest in setting up Lost Tours:

Travel agencies (i.e. Thomas Cook and smaller ones), Airlines (Virgin or even local budget airlines), a chain of hotels or a bus / train company.

IDEA FOR RESPONSIBLE SHOPPING GAME

(the title and the program's logo are in the working process)


BACKGROUND INFO:

Consumers, governments and business leaders are finally feeling the pressure to confront and act upon the fact that unbridled production and consumption comes with mounting pollution and at a significant human/animal/earth cost.

Now that carbon footprinting has become a household term in mature consumer societies, expect consumers' desire to find out about the environmental responsibility of a brand to become a given. Questions no one ever asked a few years ago will become an integral part of the purchasing process. How was the product made? By whom? What effects on the environment will it have after purchasing?

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- If you don't stand for a cause, consumers may stop buying your products.

Carol Cone, chairman-CEO of Cone, said 72% of employees wish their bosses would push for social issues to be part of the companys' business plans -- a 38% increase since Cone's last survey in 2004.

That's according to the 2007 Cone Cause Evolution Survey, which finds that fully two-thirds of Americans consider a company's business practices when deciding what to buy. It also found that 87% of U.S. consumers would switch from one brand to another if the other brand was associated with a good cause, up 31% since 1993. According to Cone, 92% of consumers value companies that promote social issues, and 83% say companies have a responsibility to help support them.

"[Consumers] want to be affiliated with a company that is good," said Carol Cone, chairman-CEO of Cone, a Boston-based strategy and communications agency that specializes in cause marketing. "If consumers see companies behave badly, consumers can move to a company that is a neutral corporate citizen or a proactive corporate citizen."

No matter what cause a company stands behind, Ms. Cone maintains it's one thing that will never go out of style with consumers. "Good is the new black today," she said.

THE GAME IDEA:

"SPEND-IT-RIGHT" TV Shopping Game's main objective is:

To educate general consumers about more conscious approach to spending money as well as to promote socially and environmentally conscious brands in an entertaining and playful fashion.

How it works:

Contestants of the game are given considerable amount of cash to spend on consumer goods of their choice in one day.

The point of the game is not to spend all the money, but to spend it right, i.e the amount close to the randomly chosen budget number (similar to a lucky draw). Players have opportunity to earn special bonus points that will help them to win.

The winner gets to keep everything he/she has bought.

With every game round the budget and risks get higher. Altogether there could be 3 rounds in different locations:

1 ROUND: 1000 € cash to spend in big supermarket like Wal-Mart. If you win, you have a choice to withdraw from the game and keep 25% of your shopping. If you lose – you leave the game empty handed.

2 ROUND: 10.000 € cash to spend in a shopping mall. If you win you get to keep 50% of your shopping or keep it all and play on in the final round. The loser of the second round leaves with 25% from his shopping.

3 ROUND: 25.000 € cash to spend in a city. If you win, you get to keep everything you bought during these 3 rounds plus 50% of the loser’s shopping items (products worth 48.500€). The loser keeps the rest 50% (12.500€ worth)

To make the shopping experience more competitive we introduce special bonus points.

Players can earn these points when they choose products from socially / environmentally friendly brands. The more you know about “wholesome” brands, the more advantage you have over your competitor. Each bonus point equals to 100 €. For example:

1. Donating 100€ to a charity of your choice would earn you 2 points (200€)
2. Buying a product that is environmentally friendly – 1 point.
3. Buying from a socially responsible brand – 1 point. (Shopper should be able to provide this information while being filmed during his shopping spree.)
4. Buying for a good cause, i.e. for the benefit of others, like computers for school kids, would also earn you 2 points.
5. etc.
   

Here’s an example of the 1 round game score:

Two contestants are given a special shopping location and 1000 € to spend in the same day.

One contestant spends 750€ and the other one – 500€. The winning budget number for this round is 600 (€). The second player’s budget is closer to 600, so he/she wins.

Players will have to earn bonus points to help themselves reaching their best score. i.e. If you’re over the budget - you subtract the points, and if you’re under the budget – you add on.

Benefits for all:

• For brands the show could be a good opportunity for self-promotion.
• For the players it’s a shopping goldmine.
• For the viewers it is an entertainment as well as product information.
• For marketers it will provide deeper insights on different consumer demographics and their shopping patterns.
• For the world - another step towards the better future.
  

UNHAPPY CUSTOMER BURNS HIS CREDIT CARD

The time of oneway (brand > consumer) communications is coming to an end.
Here's a video with an unhappy customer giving his feedback on his RBS "Excite" credit card on Youtube..
I believe that if consumers have more tools to talk back to brands, the brands would have to think twice before launching a BS ad campaign.

I wonder how long will it be online before RBS will force Youtube to ban it?

PASS THE BLAME (OFFICE GAME)

Office Game: Pass The Blame from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

idea: Famous Moustashe + tshirt

Indian Dancer vs Sinatra

just wanted to see how they would look together :)

Idea: video for Zaadz

a script for viral video to promote Zaadz Enlightenment network, computer animation of subatomic particles:

Idea: RECYCLED ADS ON RECYCLED BAGS

This is a current project of Xgeronimo in Auroville. (International lab city for a sustainable future models).
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Traditional advertising mediums (TV, Outdoor, Press, etc.) are generally too expensive.

This always makes advertisers to be interested in alternative (and cheaper) places to display their ads.

Consumers are getting more environmentally conscious and thus expecting their brands to be more environmentally active too.

Why not to offer advertisers to “recycle” their old ads on a new, original medium as well as sponsoring an environmental project?

Here’s how:

1. We produce at least 1000 shopping bags made from old newspapers.

2. For a moderate donation we promise advertisers to “recycle” their old newspaper ads by gluing them on our 1000 recycled shopping bags.

3. We involve several newspapers to create necessary publicity.

4. We freely distribute our bags with ads across several selected shops and supermarkets in Pondi (and maybe later across the country) as free alternative shopping bags.

5. Money generated from “re-selling” old ads will be invested in various environmental community projects.

The bags will be made only from eco-friendly or recycled materials. Brands that aren’t sensitive to environmental issues won’t be involved in the project.

to be continued.

Idea: Celebrity Pool for consumer products

Here's an idea for a website where visitors can choose different celebrities to review various consumer products.

The Pool (let's call it like this for now) is a consumer oriented web 2 platform that sets itself as an alternative to traditional advertising product endorsement as well as an active sponsor for various humanitarian projects.

The concept:

The Pool invites a number of prominent people / celebrities to act as critics (jury) on behalf of the general public to give their unbiased personal opinion about a range of consumer products.

The Pool's jury is elected by a public vote of confidence. For example, The Pool’s online forum where users get to choose their “trustworthy” stars to rate a range of competing products (i.e. seven mobile phone brands, lingerie, digital cameras, etc.).
For each campaign project there is a new jury selection.

The Jury’s verdicts could be published in a separate publication (The Pool Magazine) or in other independent media, including TV, internet, events, PR or ambient.

The Pool’s mission is to act in the public interest as an alternative to the celebrity product endorsement that is on the payroll by a certain brand.

For example: (click on the image to enlarge)



How it works:

Each month The Pool creates a list of potential critics, i.e. 25 celebrities and publishes the candidates on the website.
Online users select 7 candidates for participation.
The Pool approaches the chosen five and lets them know that they were elected and entrusted by the general public to participate in the next month product survey campaign.
By taking part in the campaign they would act in public interest as well as supporting various good causes: 10 % of the Pool’s revenue goes to support various charity projects and organisations. The latter should be well publicised for the jury members as well as for the rest of general public.

When the Jury is complete The Pool approaches the brand manufactures (according to the selected consumer product theme that is to be featured, i.e. mobile phones, etc.) and invited to submit their products for the judgement. The manufacturers should be advised that this action has a number of benefits for the brands, for example, it shows that the brand is very confident in its product, will get a genuine independent celebrity endorsement as well as gaining consumer trust and sympathy for sharing social indirect sponsorship of good causes.

There should be an equal number of critics and brands for each campaign, i.e. 7 celebrities and 7 mobile phone brands.

Who pays whom and how much (approximate model):

A brand is paying The Pool 30.000 euros as an entry fee.
7 products - 210.000 in fees collection.

210.000
- 70.000 (salary for the juros -10.000 each)
-----------------------------------------------------
140.000
- 40.000 (media expences)
-----------------------------------------------------
100.000 (salary for the Pool agency)
- 10% (10.000 euros sponsorship for good causes)
------------------------------------------------------
90.000 euros – total salary for The Pool. (per month)

Idea: Lynx Deo for men

IDEA: Lynx Deo for men produces a series of authentic looking viral clips showing men feeling extremely comfortable with animal female predators
who act unexpectedly harmless and playful.


Man plays with a huge real Black Widow spider.


Male backpacker in India strokes a real cobra.


Male visitor is having a moment with a lioness in a zoo.

WiWo - magazine for top managers

Noah

Raw Tobacco

Idea: Famouse Maustache

Benson & Hedges

Website demo: Very expensive shoes..

presentation mood for exclusive women shoes website.
(ignore the prices)

Sofa World

Sofa World produces a coffee table book with inspiring photos and poems:

Rolex about time

Slgan: When you think about time even a watch like Rolex appears insignificant.
(very small packshot)

Idea: Tattoos on leather products

Why not to pair up cool tattoo artists and luxury leather brands to create custom made special leather products? For example, customers can choose different design tattoos for their bags, boots or jackets.
Below are some moods i created in photoshop (not the best examples of tattoos, but fine to illustrate the idea)
click to enlarge:






Alternatively, customers can go directly to a cool tattoo studio and ask them to make a tattoo on their leather products. If it works on people and pigs, it will nicely work on your leather bag too.

The other scent of India.

India is famous for its incenses and infamous for its garbage. The smell of burning garbage is probably the most pervasive and dominant of all. (Due to the lack of garbage management infrastructure the most common way to rid of it is to burn it on a backyard.)

Why not to design special incense sticks made entirely from hand rolled garbage? And use it as part of the awareness campaign for better waste management.

For example Garbage Hase sticks can be mailed to officials who are responsible for environmental issues as a reminder of their duties. Or better yet to lit hundreds of sticks outside official offices and smoke some action out of them!

Hugo Boss, men perfume

Idea: Run For Your Life

alternatively, how about sponsoring Running of the Bulls Festival in Pamplona, Spain?

Some film ideas

These are some film ideas that i eventually would like to write...



A film about an unusual serial killer.



A film about a broke writer who has an uncurable sickness and decides to freezes himself in the north pole ice. To make a compelling incentive for future generations to unfreeze him (and cure his sickness!) he writes a gripping book BUT with the last chapter missing... and attaches a special note (with a map where to find his body) asking to bring him back to life if they want the last chapter to be written.

Pass The Blame

here are some more videos on the blame subject:


The Blame Chase from xgeronimo on Vimeo.


Office Game: Pass The Blame from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

and outdoor viral stickers:

Idea: Loser TV

click on the image to enlarge.

Seth Godin on being remarkable (at least in marketing)

just liked this talk and decided to post it.

Rape Prevention Kit

this idea has been inspired from talking to western girls travelling single in India:




i think that it might work because confusion is a great deterrent... ;)

Idea: 5 Star Special Edition Books

To (re)publish a book with doodles and margin notes of 5 popular celebrities.

Each chosen celebrity person would be given a "clean" virsion of the book to read and asked to leave his/her comments on the book's pages. Every celebrity would have a different colour in case they write on the same page. The result would be a special edition with comments of all five "stars" in one book - which is a high value bonus in a culture obsessed with fame.

On the back of the book one can see individual Celebrity Involvement Charts showing which parts of the book they found particularly interesting or otherwise.

The idea works particularly well with popular non-fiction books, i.e. personal or growth, or books on contraversial subjects llike climate change.

It works well in a digital format, but having a real "analog" makes it very special.

Click on the example below to enlarge:

Idea: Talk less, do more (Wrigley's gum)

Minimalistic ad statement

Idea: Special Thanksgiving Price

On Thanksgiving Day Zara fashion store sells its selected items not for money... but for customer's thanks. The dollar price has been converted into "Thanks" currency. For example, if the item costs 59 dollars, a customer has to say 59 times thanks at the cashpoint in order to have it. The "sale offer" is limited to 5 items per one person.

The campaign is designed to generate public awareness about the new Zara store.

Video with the customers storming the store will be coming soon ;)