Marketing that misses the mark

Today I found a message in my LinkedIn mailbox that is so very off the mark, it's funny.It's from a company that "create[s] innovative marketing videos."

It promises, "No more endless pages of boring web content - replace all that with a play button, and give your clients a perfect sales pitch, every time."

The thing is, I don't like marketing videos. I much prefer to take in information through text. In fact, creating such texts is my job, and I work hard to make sure they are not "boring." So this marketing expert has proved himself to not be much of an expert about targeting. But there is no real harm done. I won't expose the name here, and the email cost nothing.

Environmental concerns and the electronic supply chain

Though people always talk about the weather, no one ever does anything about it. To some extent, that is also true about climate, even for those concerned about climate change. Doing something requires more than awareness. It requires a plan, and mapping out a plan begins with information about current practices. A new partnership is aimed at the getting to the starting point with data from more companies involved in the electronic supply chain.
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Data Drives Down Carbon in the Electronic Supply Chain

Achieving conflict-free minerals in a supply chain is a goal mandated by ethics, as well as law. Arriving at that end requires many steps along the way. In its latest report, Apple takes credit for achieving milestones on the way. Read more in

Apple Marking Progress on the Road to Conflict-Free Minerals

The app that's a breath of fresh air

“We live in a personal, real time, location based world,” declares BreezoMeter. That reality of today’s mobile world is the heart of the app’s design. Combining big data, algorithms and mobile technology, it delivers specific air quality information and recommendations in real time. Today’s mobile consumers demand no less.

“The highest growth in coming years is likely in segment-level and real-time personalization,” according to a recent report, entitled “Enterprise Priorities in Digital Marketing” (PDF). People who carry mobile devices expect access to “services and content for the moment and in the moment.” That’s what BreezoMeter’s air quality app aims to deliver.

Like many other innovations, BreezoMeter was born out of frustration. Its CEO, Ran Korber, was frustrated by the lack of centralized air quality information available when he was seeking a place clear of air pollution for his new home in Israel. As an environmental engineer with a pregnant wife, he was particularly concerned about the air quality. Finding nothing on the market provided all the answer he sought, he created his own solution.

The app proved successful in Israel where 300 sensors sufficed to cover the most populated areas of an area roughly the size of New Jersey. Scaling up to cover an area hundreds of time bigger was a challenge for the startup. 

Read more in http://insideanalysis.com/2015/04/the-app-thats-a-breath-of-fresh-air/

Is a Smart Barbie a Smart Move?

Today's fashion doll is not your grandmother's Barbie. Nowadays, she comes equipped with WiFi, voice recognition, and access to data stored in the cloud.

Since 1959, the iconic Barbie doll has gone through multiple permutations as it evolved to reflect the fashions and expectations of each generation. Lately, that includes technology to enable conversations with the doll. And Mattel has discovered that a talking Barbie causes trouble. In the last generation, people objected to what Barbie said; now they object to what she hears.

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Smart Barbie Puts Child's Play In The Cloud