June 2013
1 post
April 2013
6 posts
- To wipe off knives
- To pat dry defrosted sashimi
- To wipe off oil from frying pan
- As a liner to place at the bottom of a plastic food container (especially for chopped scallions)
- As wet napkin at the dining table (instead of traditional “daifuki” or “fukin” = kitchen cloth)
- To drain excess water from tofu or other foods prepared in certain methods
- To microwave vegetable (wet the paper, wrap vegetable with the paper, then place it in the microwave)
- Use as a plate for sweets (European style cakes, Japanese cakes, etc. – sweets are part of Japanese daily life – they are incredibly good!)
- To scrub inside fish tank
- To place under baby’s butt when changing diaper
- Use as coffee filter (for emergency, when cone or basket coffee filters are out)
Value doesn’t always mean price discounts or cheaper—for many it means a better experience, added value, or just simply making consumers lives better.
An up close look at Hong Kongs super duper high buildings— and the people who live in them. Photography by Michael Wolf.
Children around the world share their toys in this amazing collection done by Gabriele Galimberti.
Will it catch on?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/04/facebook-home-smart-phone-mark-zuckerberg
August 2012
1 post
A report produced by Wine Intelligence answers these questions and reveals which will be the market for wine in the United States in 2020.
Within the framework of the London Wine Fair, Wine Intelligence presented a report on Millennials’ (21-45 year old) wine drinking habits in the United States. This way, it outlines the main changing patterns and drinking occasions.
Trends developing:
•Growth of imported wines, at super-premium price points ($10-20) with a distinctive and memorable regional story
•Demand / expectation for a greater diversity of imported wines with interesting stories on on-premise wine lists
•Greater diversity of wine in off-premise at the $10-20 level from domestic regions and states, including those outside the California / Oregon / Washington / New York State establishment
•Greater diversity of wine styles, including the proliferation of drier styles of rosé (as opposed to the dominant “blush” rosé style)
Looking to the future: The 21-45 year old American wine consumer
One of the premises is that Millennials are behaving very differently towards wine than previous generations. A major difference is that younger people spend more per bottle, while over 45s lead in terms of consumption volume.
The building excitement over the drinking and spending habits of America’s 21-35 year old wine drinkers –the Millennials–has been well documented in the media over the past few years.
Given this, we should analyze this generation’s behavior and what they are looking for when buying wine. Consequently, the report divides the wine drinking population into two groups and compares them: the under-45s and the over 45s.
via @ http://www.winesur.com/news/millennials-when-what-and-how-much-do-they-drink
July 2012
2 posts
via http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/instagram-sunglasses-filter-your-life_n_1699627.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003#s874196&title=Printstagram
Via @ http://wearesocial.net/blog/2012/07/global-social-media-checkup-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wearesocial+%28We+Are+Social%29
May 2012
2 posts
Sure, friends can cheer you up. But best friends will turn up at your door at midnight, hang out for hours and lend you their OBEY hat.
April 2012
7 posts
via http://adage.com/article/news/study-75-living-creative-potential/234302/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage
Black consumers became smartphone users early and in large numbers. But they no longer constitute an oversized portion of the smartphone population, as the penetration rate among white consumers has accelerated.
Black consumers’ smartphone penetration rate this year will be slightly lower than that of whites and the US population in general, eMarketer estimates, and the gap is expected to widen in the next several years. The same pattern applies to mobile internet usage, with penetration among blacks slipping below that of whites and the total US population, after having been slightly above both at the beginning of the decade.
“A focus on number of users doesn’t tell the full story,” said Mark Dolliver, eMarketer analyst and author of the new report, “Black Consumers and Mobile: Digital Lives Lived in Motion.” “If mobile usage is no longer more common among black consumers than the rest of the US population, it is nonetheless more important to many of them. They have a higher-than-average propensity to use their phones as their chief means of going online. Indeed, the widespread adoption of smartphones among blacks has helped to close the old ‘digital divide’ in internet access while perhaps creating a new one in the kind of online usage people typically experience.”
A year-long survey by Experian Simmons that concluded at the end of November 2011 got a glimpse at some of these differences. Black mobile phone owners were more likely than their white counterparts (19.5% vs. 11.8%) and respondents in general (13.7%) to agree with the statement, “My [mobile] phone is an expression of who I am.” Blacks were also more likely than whites and respondents in general to agree that, “I use my [mobile] phone in many different ways to get the information I need,” (46.7% vs. 38.7% vs. 40.6%) and that, “My [mobile] phone connects me to my social world,” (38.4% vs. 32.2% vs. 34.0%).
Differences between age groups on such matters are apt to be at least as significant as differences between racial groups. For instance, black respondents 18- to 34-years-old were twice as likely as their 35- to 49-year-old counterparts to view their mobile phone as an expression of who they are.
“If mobile marketers are attracted to the black mobile audience because they view it as disproportionately large, their thinking is out of date,” said Dolliver. “The real reason to reach black consumers via mobile is that usage plays an outsized role in their involvement with digital media. They are far more likely than whites to report using smartphones as their principal means of accessing the internet. And they overindex for mobile engagement with a range of online activities, including mobile viewing of online video.”
via EMarketer http://www.hispanicad.com/cgi-bin/news/newsarticle.cgi?article_id=34248
The LGBT community is no longer a walled garden within a metropolitan city, but a vast collection of distinct subgroups — the majority of whom live integrated lives in all parts of mainstream culture.
This is the overarching conclusion from the Beyond Demographics LGBTid Study done by media agency Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in collaboration with Logo, Viacom’s entertainment brand for gay trendsetters. The study, including a quantitative element featuring over 1,000 participants, identifies a spectrum of eight distinct groups within the overall gay community in the U.S.
Four of these archetype groups, representing strong and varying degrees of integration in the mainstream, make up nearly two-thirds (67%) of the LGBT community in the study: Out & Proud, Beyond The Alphabet, Initiators and Just Who I Am. In addition, a fifth group called Champions, comprised of heterosexual allies, has manifested into a unique identity essential to the LGBT story.
The LGBT community is also far more diverse than what most people think. In the quantitative portion of the study, over 40% of the sample reported back as “non-White,” which is slightly higher than the most recent 2010 U.S. Census population estimates.
And a vast majority live media-centric lives, focused on finding good content on any platform. Digital activities including search, interacting with friends and family on email, social media and Skype were all top choices for this segment. Over 60 percent of the community gives online their “complete attention” as a lean-in activity.
The study is the latest under SMG’s umbrella Beyond Demographics™ initiative to drive transformational change in the advertising industry’s view and value of multi-cultured consumers. Encompassing both qualitative and quantitative methods, the effort kicked off in New York in June 2011 with a consortium/symposium of cultural translators from a diverse background of expertise and experience, whose primary charge was to help lay a foundation of a future focused LGBT framework.
“Our big ‘a-ha’ moment happened when all the insights and data showed how ordinary LGBT life is today,” said SMG’s Esther Franklin, Executive Vice President and head of SMG America’s Experience Strategy. “For many parts of the LGBT community, people are just living everyday lives. We haven’t seen that insight portrayed until very recently.”
“Our focus at Logo has always been to develop shows that reflect the full lives of our audience,” said Lisa Sherman, Executive Vice President, General Manager, Logo. “Partnering with Starcom MediaVest Group on this study confirms what we’ve heard from our viewers on all of our media platforms — they want programs that reflect their full-life experiences and multiple interests. So, that’s what we’ll aim to give to them as they continue to live fully integrated lives in all parts of mainstream culture.”
Additional insights from the quantitative portion of the study reveal a diverse and relationship-oriented snapshot of the current LGBT community:
When asked about their current relationship status, nearly half (49%) are married, in a relationship or living with a partner. This does not include those who are divorced, widowed or separated from their partners.
Over 40% of the respondents belong to an organized religion. 80% consider themselves spiritual. And only 3% report feeling unwelcome in the church of their faith.
Over 20% of respondents are parents.
53 percent conveyed that they don’t hide being gay, but that for them it’s not a priority to showcase it. And only 30 percent indicated that they preferred living and socializing in exclusively gay and lesbian communities.
Below are some details on the largest LGBT sub-groups living integrated lives:
“Out & Proud”
Living boldly without apology.
“Beyond The Alphabet”
The embodiment of the future, this group shuns gender and orientation labels and questions the use of “old” language.
“Initiators”
Motivators for political change and equality efforts, both young and old.
“Just Who I Am”
Sexual orientation is folded into their everyday lives, not hidden yet not prioritized either. Authentic living supported by a large network of friends and family.
via Starcom MediaVest Group http://www.hispanicad.com/cgi-bin/news/newsarticle.cgi?article_id=34251
via http://www.hispanicad.com/cgi-bin/news/newsarticle.cgi?article_id=34259
A recent study found that consumers in their 20s (“digital natives”) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour—the equivalent of more than 13 times during a standard half-hour TV show.
via http://adage.com/article/news/study-young-consumers-switch-media-27-times-hour/234008/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage
March 2012
3 posts
scandalous
h
