Quick Response or QR codes have been around for quite some time in the technologically savvy Japan. Their prevalence in Japan’s keitai culture is only just emerging in the mainstream here. Grab a QR code reader from your smart phone’s app store and read more about what QR codes are using the code above.

This article from Ad Week a couple of years ago talked about the potential innovative or prosaic use of QR codes.

I have not been surprised to see some banal use of QR codes as mere substitutes for a URL or as alternatives to print coupons.

What I love about QR codes is their instant ability to connect a user in a transient or mobile environment with a distinct message or form of engagement. It could be recipe tips or cooking “how to’s” in a grocery store; a free demo to a game to while away some time at a transit stop; a video of a band on a tour poster with a free ringtone download; additional audio/visual information in a museum exhibition, and so on.

Reporters without Borders went a step further and integrated the utility of QR codes into the channel and message itself, demonstrating the stunning innovative potential inherent in this technology:

There is also an essential beauty inherent within QR codes themselves, as well as a beauty in their utility. This has not escaped investigation:

Anyway. I don’t have any clever gimmicks with these QR codes, but pop along to one of the options below and post a comment on some suggestions you have or examples of great QR Code use:

The complex and arcane nature of heraldry might appear to make it redundant in contemporary visual communication. Yet for branding there are lessons to be learned from blazon, the vocabulary of heraldry.

The arms above are those of Catherine Middleton, being those recently granted to her father, but born by blue ribbons and in a shape that reflect her unmarried status. Upon her marriage this Friday, the shape will change to a shield. The blazon for this coat of arms is Per pale Azure and Gules a Chevron Or cotised Argent between three Acorns slipped and leaved Or. This description may seem unintelligible, and, indeed, for most of us it is. However, to me Russia’s Cyrillic or China’s character alphabets are equally unintelligible, as I simply have not learned them.

The use of visual elements to communicate comprehensive concepts and important meanings extremely rapidly is powerfully demonstrated by heraldry. There are numerous terms that articulate precisely the miscellany of colors, shapes, position, attitudes and components of every aspect of the coat of arms. It is not for the uninitiated. Fortunately, various heraldic authorities around the world will guide those of us entitled to the grant of arms in their design. The College of Arms in England states: Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday night’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice (“Raising the Steaks”) contestants were challenged to create occasion-specific meals using Omaha Steaks products.  The entire episode featured Omaha Steaks products and paraphernalia, not to mention celebrities singing the brand’s praises.  It was amazing!

A few years ago, we wrote about the remarkable transformation of the Omaha Steaks brand position and all of the work that went into it.  We love our clients and are proud that “Oma-Ha Steaks” is receiving such great national recognition!

Sidenote: What dd|a spent countless hours researching and carefully crafting, celebrity contestant Gary Busey took to new heights about 15 minutes into the episode by suggesting a Father’s Day kite… “And on the kite it says ‘Heartland Quality Omaha Steaks Since 1917.’” Genius.

We needed to have a little fun with that and see it come to fruition:

We may not be celebrities, but we’re pleased to see our work getting the star treatment.

I’ve always been one of those people who bitches about junk deliveries to my inbox and, ironically, looks forward with equal fervor to coming home to check the “snail mail.”  Recently, both have gotten exceptionally out of control.

No, I haven’t shared my address with new coupon providers or subscribed to new magazines.  (In fact, having recently moved, I have sneakily evaded a number of pesky grocery store mailbox flooders. Hah.)  Rather than stacks of handwritten letters and special “buy one jumbo pizza, get a second [AKA the addition of a few unwanted pounds plus a solid dose of sluggishness] free” offers behind the P.O. Box door, I find a special key – luring me to the neighboring “oversized mail” box which contains plastic pouches of pristine goodies expressly shipped by my oh-so-frugal self sometime 12 to 14 days prior.

The culprit:  sites offering deals.  groupon.com, woot.com, ideeli.com, gilt.com, thefoundary.com, ruelala.com, livingsocial.com, ahalife.com… An ever-growing collective phenomenon to strip me of my willpower. Exclusive online membership to get massive daily discounts on designer brands, tasty restaurants, fabulous vacations or fancy gadgets while supplies last.  Reaching us through Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, news websites and email (when we give them the golden ticket and invite them in) to offer us stuff we never even knew we wanted by speaking with the language of our witty buddies in the next cubicle.
Pure. Genius.

Deliciously beautiful, affordable things I couldn’t possibly find in a mundane Omaha storefront, right? That’s the thing – they don’t even give me enough time to find out.  I have a 600-second window to decide to purchase the item between the time I spot it and the time it disappears from my virtual cart and falls into the hands of Jane Doe clicking “refresh” on her computer somewhere in Honky Tonk, USA.  Oh, the pressure!

The sneakiest part: Read the rest of this entry »

Yves Béhar was design alliance OMAha’s recent guest speaker and, in outlining his attitude to design, referenced the need for design to give people a sense of participation. He elaborated by asserting that “Participation is the new brand loyalty.” That is an intriguing thought on many levels.

Fuse Project’s work designing Puma’s Clever Little Bag is both incredible design and environmentally sensitive. For Puma it is a great way to extend their brand presence in other promotional ways, beyond the product delivery end point. The concept is good for us, good for Puma, good for the planet. It is hard to argue with that, although I still wrestle with the tension between endorsing the utility and sustainability of multi-functional design and the desire not to be co-opted as a naive advertiser for the company.

Participation in brands in other senses has included Read the rest of this entry »