Eva Solo has some of the greatest kitchen gear, especially the oil and vinegar carafes. Be sure to check out their cafesolo designer coffee carafes, too.

I'm really glad that I'm starting to see design really flourish in the patterns/textiles industry. It's nice to have a choice other than plain or stripes.

Artefacture is on to something. This shirt is hilarious. In fact, I think it should be a freebie to all new clients, just to show appreciation. And the fact that they have been properly educated on the value of good design.

Speaking of education, architects are reinventing the way children of the 21st century will learn, with the understanding of how fast our information-based society is evolving. It was always amazing to me how in the business world we are told to collaborate, but in school we are trained to understand that is 'cheating'. These new schools will cater to the needs of the students, letting them set their own agendas, engage in collaborative projects, and will maintain a "studio environment". A truly innovative approach is being applied that is also taking into consideration energy efficiency, behavioral patterns, and ergonomics.

And that's not all that's changing. Recently, in an interview with Spark, Lee Daley (Saatchi & Saatchi UK chairman + CEO) talked about the future of advertising, and what it means for the industry.

"I think the advertising industry as a whole will change very dramatically because of the change in the media universe. The advertising industry has grown up, essentially on the back on analogue technologies, and it's grown up around multi-domesticity."

As anyone is already aware, bad design kills. So do long meetings. In fact, they are slow and painful. I think that there are remedies, though–including expediting the process by standing up the entire time.

It seems that in many areas, small teams are coming together to expedite things. For instance, we all know that RFPs and proposals can take up a lot of non-billable hours. Along comes Approven, to try and automate the process. What about billing? What a nightmare that can be. Enter, stage right, Blinksale, by Firewheel Design (originally known for interface design). Guess they got sick of chasing after clients, too. It's great to see web-applications, and design in general come about from necessity–answering a call for help or solving a problem, instead of pushing wares on consumers that they don't need.

If you care about blogs, or even the direction they are taking this is a quick must read. In essence, it shows the power of the online community, and that people need to take notice of this dramatic shift in the way things are marketed. It's not just about your marcom materials and your PR anymore, your product actually has to be good.

Meanwhile, HBS has an interesting article on defining your primary customer. I can't count how many times a client has said, "Our customer is everyone." Don't be diluted. And another by iMedia is a worthy read on behavioral marketing. It's a quick interview between (Claria CEO) Scott Eagle and Neil Perry.

And on the retail front, HP is going to stop selling iPods, but I can't say that I am unhappy about this.

“They’ve decided that reselling iPods doesn’t fit with their company’s current digital media strategy,” the Journal quoted Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton as saying.

No duh.

Note to marketers: The crossover reuse of products is really freaking people out.


And it's not fooling anyone.

Isn't it about time? e-Marketing has been held accountable for quite some time, having commoditized media measurement in an effort to direct the dollars to measure what is working. It's nice to see that the Advertising industry is shifting.

A joint-task force composed of members of the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Advertising Research Foundation yesterday unveiled an initiative that would shake up the classic equation of advertising math that determines consumer exposure to an ad. It would replace the concept of frequency -- the number of exposures to an ad -- with “engagement,” a metric that could better reflect the growing number of media choices facing consumers, from cell phones and the Internet to video games and podcasts. [AdAge]

When communicators discover the need to measure the degree to which customers are participating in their communities and brands, this will become vital. The best campaigns will measure what changed: did we move markets, change minds and increase sales? It will no longer be just about driving communications accountability, now it will also be about driving marketing accountability, too. And this is a nice change. The transparency that this will create will one one side illuminate the marketing coasters, and on the other, help strategically pinpoint where to go next.