Idea: Personal Mobile Oracle app

This is a concept for a mobile phone app that helps undecided to make a decision.
It works as a psycho-digital oracle and provides four possible answers to any given question.

Idea: Inventing New Free

This idea was inspired by the latest book from Chris Anderson "FREE " where he writes about the future of a radical price:

Wouldn't it be cool if a brand offered us a free product from its rival?

i.e. Special promotion with underlying message:

We are so confident in superiority of our product X that we are willing to give you a free sample from our closest competitor for you to judge for your self.



idea can be applied to all sorts of snacks and sodas, tea and coffee brands and other premium products.

Tossers mirage

Charlie Brooker of BBC shares his view on aspirational TV.

Idea: Inspired ears

a quick project for Eyeka Philips contest. Using the existing slogan "Let your ears decide" was mandatory. (Music comes from my mate)

The taste of B.S. marketing

source: http://www.tappening.com/

Idea: AD-EXORCIST widget

an idea for a browser plugin to get rid of those annoying banners and popups while you surf the web

Great product, silly slogan (2)

awhile ago I made a post (Great product, silly slogan) where I criticized a slogan on a website and offered a more honest version ... and today I accidentally found out that the company responded and changed that slogan on their website. Grrreat!
(They didn't notify me about the change directly, but I guess they were worried that I would be asking money for that. Which is kinda silly too :)))

No magick in interruptive advertising

Here's my personal take on why classical interruption ads don't work any more as they used to.

Think of advertising as a dominant and controlling type of person in a social group. He exudes power, authority and influence upon this group... but only to a certain point! As soon as the group starts perceiving him on a conscious level, for example becoming aware of his manipulation tricks (body posture, eye contact, voice, etc.) - his credibility and influence on this group starts to wane rapidly.

The same is happening to the classical format of advertising. It's been around for too long for consumers to learn almost every trick of the trade. Look at the growing trend of online advertising contests where "amateurs" are imitating "professionals" and produce their own ads.
(AdHack, Poptent, Eyeka to name a few)

In other words, consumers became well conscious of the method and therefore immune to it.

Of course, there are still some ad-literate laggards left in the world, but they are no longer a dominant majority and their numbers are constantly dwindling.

To summarize: it is not enough to communicate a selling proposition and put a logo with a slogan in the end. It's too obvious for increasingly critical consumers. I believe that the future credibility of advertising will depend on two main factors:

1. more subtle formats (seeking innovative methods of product placement, for example)
2. integrity of the message ( lovertising / ethics)

here's a classic interruption ad for laggards:



and this one experience engaging for more enlightened ones : )

Benjamin Fulford's vision of the future

Armed also with a contagiously optimistic vision of the future, Benjamin is fully prepared to be the next Finance Minister for Japan. His plans for how he would spend Japan's $5 trillion of foreign reserves to eliminate global poverty are plausible and inspiring as practical steps, way beyond rhetoric, to repair the generations of damage done by a ruthless ruling elite. This is a man with a deep understanding of both East and West, a global economic historian who thinks way outside of the box, a lover of peace who is unafraid to speak warrior words.

In this comprehensive three part video, the first two parts focus on global financial history and Benjamin's most interesting personal story leading up to his approach by the Ninja. The third part contains the details of The Ultimatum itself.




And his interview with David Rockefeller:

A tribute to the cheesy 80's..

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

The future of advertising

Prediction: Brand vs Customer video wars

Here's a case at hand: United vs United customers

"Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, decided to write a song about the incident, called 'United Breaks Guitars' and posted the video on YouTube, which has been viewed nearly half a million times since July 6.

United caught wind of the video and apologised to the singer for the dispute, issuing a statement via Twitter, which read: "This has struck a chord [with] us and we've contacted him directly to make it right." source Revolution



After watching this one can only sympathize with the makers of the video.
I wouldn't be surprised to see in the near future more videos like this one coming from ordinary pissed off customers using digital media and expressing their grievances in an artistic way . For example: private videos that make fun of bad customer service in a restaurant, or unfair treatment of insurance company, or just about any product or service a consumer finds a fault with.

This video is a kind of celebrity endorsement for it.

Benefits:

For video makers - fame and recognition
For customers - improvement of the product (brands can't afford to ignore it)
For brands - improvement of the product (and customer relationships)

here's a link to my previous post about a pissed off customer burning his creditcard and making a public statement about it.

Best Job in the World

An open letter to my former boss Jean-Remy von Matt:

Idea: Daily Mirror Special Edition

Why not to have a special event when Daily Mirror online display goes literally mirror?
Imagine you go online to check out news and instead of a normal display you see a mirror image (click to enlarge):



those who have difficulty to read backwards can always click on "normal view" button.
the idea would work as a total surprise and generate a lot of buzz.
for the 1st of April addition, perhaps?

Comment: Great product, silly slogan

the link

why use meaningless and silly slogans for such a great experience that this french company is offering? Enjoying the stars (instead of conquering them) at least makes sense.

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets

a brilliant idea from BBH to let street musicians remix and play songs from Oasis's upcoming album. So simple, so viral.



I wonder why not to let each street artist their own live video streams on the internet? Each profile will have a google map with current location of the artist and a paypal donate button. See my previous idea for beggarcam.com as an example.

Desmond Dekker: feline rmx

one day i woke up in my hut to discover a wild cat mother and a kitten lying next to me.
the mother, probably fearing for the safety of her kitten (dogs, crows, etc), decided to move her family to my bungalow. they stayed for over a week until the kitten was big enough to climb down the staircase.

Spacecollective.org

This is a link definitely worth sharing: Spacecollective.org is a place where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the world we create and inhabit. Inspiring and insightful. Here are a couple of the introductory videos from the site:

Idea: A Fight Tank (mobile emergency service)

Problem: How many times did you have an argument with someone and later really regretted that you didn't record it? It could be for reasons of personal record, entertainment value, educational value or even as a legal evidence.

Solution: Why not to set up a service that offers a special mobile room where customers can sort out their differences in an organized and fruitful manner?

A FightTank van, for example, that can be easily rented out when you need to have that serious talk with someone. Click on pic to enlarge:


All arguments are automatically recorded by installed inside cameras for further study or references. The service promotes a constructive argument and personal awareness.

(A set of disposable vases to smash around is available upon the request.)

Couples who seek an objective opinion may also choose to get their tapes analyzed by an independent specialist (i.e. as a free bonus for customer loyalty :)

Mobility of the service also let's the customers to choose appropriate settings for their disputes, for example, a countryside waterfall, a back street alley, a fairground car park, etc.

Happiness project

Wise men tell us: Unhappiness is caused by our excess of desires and worries over trifle things. Here's a simple idea to communicate it:



Also works on street waste/litter baskets, rubbish bins, etc.

The idea would work for a public health organization, a psychotherapist, spiritual website, etc.

Idea: McPorn

Anti fast food guerilla project idea: large stickers over McDonald's outdoor ads featuring naked obese models:

Idea: Interactive ad on Youtube

United by trivia.

i don't know, maybe it's just me.. but after spending some time out of the system you come back to civilization and look at things afresh... and you see rather psychotic stuff....here's what i mean:


Is the community really obsessed with such trivial bonding ...or is it some kind of conspiracy? )

A healthier option, perhaps:

Audition for a revolution

It's random, but I like it.


“Auditions for a Revolution“, 2006 by Irina Botea.

Idea: LeBay is the new eBay

Strategic reasoning: In the time of recession people tend to buy less and share more. So why not to design a new product that would let people auction their items only for temporary use?
It’s like leasing meets ebay. Let’s call it LeBay for example:




As part of marketing strategy to launch the site we invite special celebrity guests to rent out some of their personal items to general public. The money raised from their rented out belongings will go to a charity of their choice. i.e. Madonna rents out her old sofa to support hungry children in Africa, or Ronaldo rents out his car to support decriminalization of marijuana, whatever.

Idea: Treeman

Concept idea for Treehugger, perhaps?

Idea: Puma Reflex

I was jogging the other night... and nearly run over some dosy street cat. So I thought, why not to have a special night glowing sneaker and call it REFLEX? I know that light reflective sneakers aren't anything new, but what the heck, I wanna do my own design.

Here's what I would like to wear next time in a dark alley at night:



A banner (above) and the product itself (below)

Give a littel love (Indian rmx)

I shot this video where I stayed in the south of india: Pondicherry /Auroville

Idea: Car hire for kids

What if kids, just like adults, could also hire their toy cars instead of buying them?

Below is an example for a well known German car rental brand (Sixt) offering toy cars online.
Done in the same corporate identity style as their "adult" site:

Idea: Fridge with time lock

According to statistics we have now over 1 billion adults worldwide who are seriously overweight. Why not to sell fridges with a programmable time lock?



WeightWatchers and Phillips business venture perhaps?

Pass The Blame Rmx

using footage from Duplicity:

Pass The Blame Rmx from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

Concept Magick Cube

I designed this cube using a sigil magick. The cube is made from red marble and is meta-programed to receive and store energy from places with very strong ambience, i.e. football stadiums, train stations, worship places, etc. I have placed little "bugs" in a few places like that as special transmitters. They connect the cube with the energy source and channel the energy directly into the cube where it is purified and stored for further use. This cube has 3 energy sources:




a close up shot of the magick cube and the "bug" (sigilised pebble as transmitter):



below is a graphically designed map of the concept cube in 2D.
the sigils on each side of the cube are converted into mandalas with a special graphic symbol
to illustrate it's function:

Idea: How to fight video piracy.

Question: How would you deal with pirates selling illegal copies of your original product?

Answer: I would become a kind of pirate too! I would start chipping off a big chunk from their (pirates) profits by starting to sell my own “original fakes” and right on their own turf… aiming to take customers away from them. I would give people an option to buy cheaper versions of my original products (with worse quality, of course).
For example, lets take the famous Kaosan Road in Bangkok where backpackers for 150 baht can buy a copy of any latest movie or software program. It is a very strategically important spot, thousands of tourists roaming in hordes there 24/7! So I would open a small shop there with a big sign:
BUY ORIGINAL FAKE MOVIES HERE! LEGALLY!

And the street vendors selling “not original fakes” (not endorsed by the legal owner) can do nothing, for they have no legal leverage to complain.
The “original fakes” would cost half the established pirate price (i.e. 50 instead of 150 baht) and some popular items I would be giving out for free!

Here's an example:

Thus we'd gain:

1. 50 baht for each copy which otherwise would go to pirates (a million copies sold a year!).

2. economic weakening of illegal piracy marketiers.

3. make a lot of people happy

(Current market price for a fake copy movie is set to 3€ (150 baht) since a few years now. Competition will be forced to match their prices to be able to stay afloat. When this happens, we start offering ALL our products for free. This will eventually eliminate the pirate competition.)

p.s. why not to set up a special counter-piracy enterprise agency sponsored by all major movie studios? With outlets in all major tourist nests in South East Asia and India.

why not even sell a bulk of our legal fakes for pennies to local street vendors so that they would flood the fake market and undermine competitors?

Eventually fakes become almost worthless! Demand for originals will soar.

Idea: Soul-gazing as a dating event

They say, your eyes are the mirrors of your soul. Why not to have a dating service for soul gazers? Or rather a “speed dating“ style event where strangers sit in front of each other for a few minutes or so, silently looking into each other eyes and say nothing (perhaps making notes afterwards).

Soulgazingdates.com anyone?

Or why not to push this blind dating thing further and make it literary blind: blindfolded couples date each other by means of dancing and talking (no visual contact!). This method of dating might would be most appreciated by “touchy and feely” couples.

Idea: Money of the future

In the future we shall have different money currency from what we are having now.
And it won’t be Euro or Dollar or Gold or any other currency attached to a solid object. I believe that the future money currency will be ENERGY. Why? Because everything is energy. And energy is everything. Our future “money” will resemble a system of energy circulation in nature with the same principle applied to our society.

Our future money won’t have a fixed physical property, like coins or banknotes. It will be pure energy, perhaps digitally encoded and divided into special currency units and it could be called something like Energy Currency Unit (ECU), or Chi, or else.



This energy based currency has a big advantage over "normal" money. Money has to be constantly reprinted to control it’s value. Energy, on the other hand, we cannot artificially create nor can we physically destroy it. We can only manage it or transform from one state to another, i.e. kinetic energy into physical energy, etc. Money is abstract and relative. Energy is concrete and permanent. So, a money system that is based on energy principle is a naturally sustainable system (which goes well with the growing in popularity idea of resource economy!).

Another major difference of ECU-Chi currency over Euro, Dollar, etc is that it opens up totally new ways how to earn and manage your energy-money.

Here’s an example: Say you are broke and need some money. With present money system you are obviously not allowed to print some for yourself but have to do some specialized work in order to be paid. In the future you can “make” your own ECUs using your natural resources. Or in other words you can convert one type of energy into ECU-Chi using special “energy converters” (a special technology that would allow us to recycle all sorts of energy and store it). For instance, personal e-converters would be able to transform ordinary physical energy into a specially encoded kinetic type sort of energy to be stored there in ECU-Chi format. When it is full you can transfer your “money” into you bank account or charge up your shopping paycard.
So, if you are stuck with no money you can always have an option to top up you account by converting your own physical energy into "money". Say, a few hours of dancing would produce energy worth approximately 1 ECU-Chi. If you are fit you can make quite a bit of “pocket money”. When everybody can “sweat out” instant money at will, it would make the current concept of unemployment not quite the same. Moreover – there will be less fat people!

Of course we already have examples of this technology trend – night clubs with energy storing floors, gym machines to charge batteries, etc. All this technology eventually will go personal (like computers and cell phones). When this happens, we can expect a radical shift from traditional money value system towards more sustainable and liberating future.

Here are some positive things to expect out of it:

There will be less crime!
There won’t be starving people!
And there won’t be any more credit crunches either!

Idea: A solution to Indian garbage problem.

There are two main problems in India: Poverty and street garbage. Here's a suggestion how one might tackle them:

The Indian government should involve street roaming beggars to help clean the country.



Why not to organize this army of free roaming shudras and pay them few rupees for collecting empty plastic bottles, bags and all sorts of discarded wrappings? It would be much cheaper than hiring special cleaning services and help millions of shudras (untouchables) to earn a small regular income. Say 1 kilo of rubbish for 10 rupees. (So that the next time a beggar approaches me with a stretched out hand, I could point to that rubbish he’s treading on!)

Here’s another point why street begging should be dealt with: begging is a profession in India and is controlled by slum mafia. Often young children are being deliberately mutilated to set them up "professionally".
I was often told by my Indian friends not to encourage this horrible industry by just handing out them money, but rather buy them some food. (Many of them refuse food and demand only money!)

Airports Customs Control + new counter idea

I am finally back to Berlin from my 6 months stay India and Thailand. Herzlich Wilkommen. German customs officers at Berlin Airport are very diligent in following their orders to stop "smugglers" of duty-free goods ... so my persona apparently raised their professional suspicion (not unjustified!) and i was duly stopped.
They quickly uncovered that i had 10 packs of "illegal" cigarettes hidden in my rucksack.

Anyway, the reason I am writing all that is that those charming custom officers (in Tegel Airport they wear rubber gloves all the time even if they don't perform their anal searches!! oh yes, that makes them look even so scary!) inspired a new idea how to bring more duty-free goods through airport customs.... and legally:

Why not to set up a website where "smokers" for a fee can hire "non-smokers" (passengers of the same flight) to carry their "excess" of duty-free cigarettes safely through the customs?



For example, I know that I am going to fly on a certain date from A to B and I want to buy say 60 packs of duty-free cigarettes, I go to a special website, lets say called dutyfreeagentcentral.com, and find 5 passengers on this flight who might be willing to carry 10 packs (the legal amount) of my duty-free load through the airport customs.
Once we pass through the customs control I collect my duty-free ciggs from them and pay say 10€ each "agent" for the service. And everybody is happy (incl. the customs I hope!)

Let's say I know that I am not going to buy any duty-free alcohol, so I can volunteer to be someone's "duty-free agent" as well, carry their excess bottles through and get paid 10€ or smth afterward.
Or, if he/she is not a smoker and carries my ciggs and I carry his/her brandy - then it will be just an exchange of favours with no money involved.

Say there are 200 passengers on the plane with 50/50 ratio of smokers and non-smokers. Here's an opportunity for each non-smoker to earn extra 10€. I think that travelers can volunteer to be "duty-free agents" for any sort of goods sold at duty-free shops (make-up, perfumes, electronics, whatever.)

I also believe that "duty-free agents" website should be a free public service, perhaps sponsored by an alcohol or a tobacco brand?

Idea for catfood brand

Video: We see an overweight cat being hypnotized and professionally counseled by a pet psychiatrist. The aim of the shrink is to program the cat’s subconscious to eat less food while in a hypnotic trance.

Packshot: smaller tins of catfood (or less fat line)


here's a BBC docu on pet hypnosis as a reference:




Other visual examples:
a really fat cat springs on a ledge of a sofa and it catapults a slim woman who was sitting on the other end of the sofa in the air…or mice pissing on a fat lazy cat, etc.

Idea: The greediest consumers of the world experiment

or Pay-As-Much-As-You-Want International.

It would be interesting to conduct a social experiment that will illustrate levels of higher consumer consciousness in different countries: Who is most greedy and who’s most generous.

In order to do that we shall open a chain of special mini shops in major capitals of the world that will offer popular consumer goods not at fixed prices as usual, but letting the consumer decide how much they should pay for each product.

Each of these “free-pay shops” are given a one-time limited start-up capital, say 50.000€ for renting space and buying the first merchandise. A city with the most commercially successful shop (as a sustainable business) will have the highest percentage of “enlightened” consumers. And visa versa, a city where the shop gets immediately bankrupt – will be hailed as the greediest!

I see this project being transparent, interactive and educational.

Working hours of the shops will be publicly viewed online as daily video episodes, i.e. live footage from the hidden cameras installed in the shops. Online interactive tools will help visitors to discuss, form groups and interact with the shop’s stuff and among each other, i.e. for donations, sponsorship, access to the shop’s balance books, etc.

LONDON vs ATHENS vs MOSCOW vs NEW YORK vs PARIS vs BERLIN vs LIMA vs etc.

The experiment can last a week, a month or a year.

It would be also good to make an educational TV documentary out of it.

The experiment can last a week, a month or a year.

It would be also good to make an educational TV documentary out of it.

Idea: A message from The Economist

Copy: Lose money. Or lose fear.

Idea: Crowdsourced movie trailers

MyBestMovieBits.com is a place to watch free movies and to mark-in and out your favorite scenes from the movie while watching it. The total length of the clip with the best movie bits is limited to 3 min max, or a length of normal movie trailer.

We can also share our custom made “movie trailers” with friends on Facebook, etc using a special notification widget.

And we can upload our own (off site created) movie clips as well (guideline: only footage from one same film per one clip to be used!)

Note: Users can only proceed to watching the next movie online (for free!) when they published their “personal trailer” for the previously watched movie!

Alternatively , Cinemaxx could be a sponsor and use this idea as a platform to promote its own movies

Idea to promote a car brand

A reality TV/Web road adventure series which might be called “Lost in a city”. The idea is to drop members of the public in a random city of the world (part of the adventure is to find out where exactly you are!) with just a credit card, mobile phone, video camera and a car… for a limited period of time, say a couple of days or a couple of weeks. The participants would be instructed to arrive at a certain time to a special “pick up” place (which they would have to find out!) from where they would be taken back to their homes. A series of clues are given how to find out the time and place for the pick up, as well as an emergency contact number. Each participant is expected to keep a daily video diary which will be later used in the series.

Alternatively, the idea would work well for an international car rental company!

Here’s an example:

Frank and Lola wake up (after hypnosis or sedatives!?) in a car somewhere in a city of Cairo. There is an envelope with further instructions, mobile phone, credit card and a small video camera. They have 48 hours to find out where they are, a hotel where they would be given further instructions (several clues are to be found which would lead to information regarding the pick up place).

Alternatively, we can elaborate that and introduce more “drama” (for the next 48 hours) where the adventures would be more “scripted”, i.e. embedding actors and “problems” to overcome. Maybe later on participants will be able to choose a different “flavour” for their adventure, i.e. scary, romantic, lots of car chasing and action, mystery solving…etc.

Harekrishna's new record

Pool Skipping from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

previous videos with Harekrishna:

Cycle skipping with fire rope from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

Wave cycling from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

Advertising, Arts and Magick (Triad Sigil)

This is a sigil I have created recently to unite creative advertising, arts and magick in one harmonious triad. The symbol contains ancient mystic elements and numbers corresponding to the task.

Idea: Personal Maps, stats visualisation

Logris

The Logris is most easily conceived as an opening made to access the infinite field of variables, and thus the paths of probability themselves. It brings into play the four elements of classical alchemy (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) with the four known forces of quantum physics (gravity, magnetism, the weak force and the strong force), thus representing a closure of time and space.

Idea: Perfume "Blue Lilly"

Inspired by this ancient mystic flower so much reverred by priests and pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.

Anti-Crisis album cover

i will publish the remix mp3 link in may 2009... this is the first draft of the album cover

Idea: Absolute Packaging

Why not to sell premium vodka bottles frozen inside a block of ice?



an example of indoor design:

thailand & India 2008 - 2009

thailand 1 from xgeronimo on Vimeo.



thailand 3 from xgeronimo on Vimeo.

Idea for a reality show

Reality show: Weekend Liar

You are not allowed to say a word of truth for a whole weekend. Your deliberate lying has a special purpose: to raise money to support your favorite charity.

The idea:

In order to be on the show members of the public have to sign a contract that forbids them to say a word of truth for a whole weekend. (The setting of the show is private life of the contestants and for safety reasons won’t interfere with their professional lives, which is the reason why we film them only on their weekends.)
The participants have to compete in lying their ways through the whole weekend without raising any suspicions from their friends and families (who won’t be aware about the contract until the end of the weekend).

For example:

John is 26 years old and lives with his girlfriend Anna. He is known as a hardworking and honest man. Nobody from John’s friends and family knows that John is under obligation of not telling truth. The filming is done with hidden camera.

The weekend of lying can spontaneously be set off something like this:

Anna: John, do we have some eggs for breakfast?
John (knows there are some!): No, none left.

(a bit later)

Anna (looking in the fridge): There are some here! Why are you lying to me; John?
John: I am not lying… (note: this is right answer because he is obviously lying that he is not lying!)

As the day develops so does the challenge to stick to the rules as more lies create even more lies as well more stress on the participant and more fun for the audience.

We always have an option to manipulate the events to make it more challenging, for example to let Anna find a secret love letter to John from Ann’s mother(!) So, when Anna confronts John with the letter, John cannot deny it (otherwise it would be like telling the truth and immediate disqualification), but to play along… in other words to invent lies to get out from the situation.

There will be lots of naturally created funny situations. Like, for example, John is going to the shop to buy some eggs. When asked what is he going to buy he has to say anything… but the eggs. Now John comes back with the eggs. “But John, you said you weren’t going to buy the eggs!”… etc. Everything will get even more confusing.


We can also create special events for John’s weekend to make it even more dramatic. For example we arrange that John and Anna visit Anna’s parents (for the first time). Prior to that we make Anna’s parents suspicious about John’s past (i.e. a friendly call)… just to make sure that John gets lot’s of questions when he meets them.

Motivation and rewards:

Audience (on and offline) has to vote who is the most skillful liar. The winner gets a prize, i.e. long nose made from gold and some cash that he would have to donate to a charity. (He gets to keep the golden nose though!). Lying for money takes a new perspective here.

“Lies For Good” could be an alternative title of the show.

Goodbye George Bush and thank you

Wassup 2008

this sequel to the famous Budweiser "Wassup" ad just cracked me up:



here's the original from 2000 to refresh your memory:

Idea: Where the hell is Matt 3

We all know these virals with dancing Matt :



now meet Daito Manabe who introduced a new dance trend - face dancing:



so here's an idea for Matt's next world tour - Matt's Face Dancing Around The World (with a nice portable set of electrodes, of course)

Shockvertising review from Trendhunter

more on trendhunter.com

How grass can inspire great ideas

Idea: HoloSelf 1.0

Here's an idea for a future product: HoloSelf 1.0 - an intelligent interactive personal hologram.
You may want to hit the "pause" button during your viewing because some text charts are a bit too quick.




HoloSelf 2.0 version will be multiplay (allowing real time interaction between different holoselves.)