From the category archives:

Innovate

Last summer I got on a train leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg. Together with freelancing project manager, planner and colleague Caroline Karlström I had a meeting set up with diving brand Poseidon. This was the start of a project where I truly had the opportunity to work with all aspects of branding and creative communication.

A dream project.

Ingvar Elfström, the founder of Poseidon back in 1958.

The Background

Back in 1958 this brand was founded by a young Swedish diver, Ingvar Elfström. Since then the brand has become famous for unique, different and great products. However over the last couple of years they’ve lost speed when it comes to innovation and marketing initiatives.

But then something happened. The company was bought by a small group of investors three years back. Headed by visionaire Kurt Sjöblom they set out on a journey – to develop the first ever automated rebreather for recreational divers.

This was why we were there. About a year from launch Kurt and his team felt they needed to do something about the brand. And after a successful meeting that actually started with me diving [click to continue…]

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A common question I get from companies is “How do we get people inside our company to spend time on our intranet”. My answer is always – “make sure you tie your intranet closely to your daily operations”.

Make people feel visiting the intranet has something to do with their work and not only for the fun of it. Only this way will you create the need for the collaboration, socialization and engagement that an active intranet (and your company) needs. This however turns out to be a major problem for most [click to continue…]

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Think social media and conversational marketing might be the next train to heaven for your brand but don’t know where to board? Well, here’s three social media marketing models that will make sure you’ll find your station.

If you wanna get moving into the social country of love where conversation rules you’ve gotta get one thing straight. Valuable content is king. Buying a loudspeaker and start tweeting wont get you anywhere. Swedish brands like Comhem and Boxer have effectively proven that just twittering the 140 sign language doesn’t earn you any followers. Every social network will provide you with it’s own possibilities and traps. A well executed strategy is a must or you’ll end up in a minefield.

Here are 3 models by Johan Ronnestam that will guide your brand towards a successful social media strategy.

3 Models That Will Guide You Into The Social Media Landscape

  1. The Social Staircase

    The Social Staircase is a model that focus on the overall process. It’s the stuff that pays for your ticket to love.

  2. The Social Tool Matrix

    Now you know what kind of presence your business needs. Now it’s time to map the tools to make sure you know what to keep your mouth shut, when to speak and when to listen.

  3. The Social Viral Spiral

    This is about speed. Spread that love I’m talking about below. But make sure you do it with finesse and timing. Create a couple of Social Viral Spirals and you’re ready to make out!

How your brand makes good use these three [click to continue…]

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Those are the words said by Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President World Wide Product Marketing over at Apple when speaking about the new Apple iPad. It pretty much sums up what I thing after having followed the keynote given by Steve Jobs today.

The new iPad is a game-changer and I need one now! (you too!)

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I have always been a great fan of Dyson. A company truly based on innovation. First famous for their vacuum cleaners they’ve now released a fan (updated) without any blades.

This video below shows people being confronted with the hairdryer for the first time and it’s a perfect example of true innovation and the consequences of it. When was the last time your product made people react like this?

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So there you are. Heading a beer brand. You’ve turned into a ‘baldy’ since most of your hair has fallen off due to crazy competition, expensive media investments leading nowhere, a product that is older than your ancestors (I’m talking the ones that lived before we had bikes and shit). Now you want people to drink more of that golden product of yours. What do you do? Advertise? Hell no!

Easy. You stop that advertising stuff you’re doing and launch a product instead. As a matter of fact you launch a bag of crisp to complement your product. Smart as hell. This is exactly what the guys down under at Droga 5 Australia managed to convince beer brand Victoria Bitter to do.

Result then? Better brand visibility in-store very close to the actual beer buying decision. Double your revenues (if it tastes good that is) and on top of that – Salt. Yes, that white little thing that melts on your tongue and makes you crave more…you guessed it..beer!

Now there’s innovative advertising for ya!

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I spent far to much of my youth riding my snowboard, so getting me into MIT would probably involve both bribes and plastic surgery. But if I had, the MIT Media Lab is for sure the place to be if you wanna tap into the future for real.

Hidden in room 320 you’ll find Pattie Maes and her Fluid Interfaces Research Group. This is a part of MIT where the goal is to radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. Pattie and her students has already brought us tons of cool stuff like the wearable computer interface and the Stiftables (that I’ve written about before).

Well, this morning when I browsed through the Shapeways blog I feasted my eyes onto the Fluid Groups latest vision for the future – a 3D food printer called Cornucopia. You heard me right. The 3D food printer.

This little beauty, yet to be seen in real life, will let you print your food. Get it? Cornucopia’s cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user’s favorite ingredients. [click to continue…]

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Those are the words the packaging of your product should whisper over and over and over again. The customers immediate response should of course be – I want to live the rest of my life with you no matter if it will make me go bankrupt!

This is exactly what Soon Mo Kang’s Tea Bag packaging does. In fact I think once you’ve taken this little beauty home the first person that comes for a cup of tea will steal it. Now there’s a brief for ya – “My product should be so well designed so my customers have people stealing it from them”

On top of the sheer beauty of it it also keeps your tea bag from sinking to the bottom of your cup. Also what we should expect from products in the future – everything communicates. I love it.

As often before SwissMiss beamed it to me.

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Svenska politiker i sociala och digital media under valet 2010. Några råd på vägen – Det handlar om vem du är, vad du tycker och hur vi kan bli vänner.

January 5, 2010

Det började igår med att jag läste en artikel på SVD där man skriver: “Sociala medier ny PR-kanal”. Strax efter retweetade jag @byBalsam som uppmärksammat chefredaktören Martin Jönssons morgontweet (som senare bloggade om allt buzz). Inte många timmar efter postar Brit Stakston en strålande betraktelse av hela historien som hon idag följde upp med en [...]

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Brand and Communication Predictions For 2010 by Johan Ronnestam

December 31, 2009

This last year, 2009 has been a blast in many ways. Almost every day I’ve received interesting news from friends, other bloggers and my RSS feeds. Even thought we’ve seen one of the most severe economical downturns this year it seems advertising, communication and technology has been the business to be in.
Brands seem to have [...]

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A Book, MashUp, PDF or Whatever You Wanna Call It By Johan Ronnestam

December 30, 2009

I’ve always wanted to write a book. This is NOT it!
So far this year my blog have had more than 115 000 unique visitors and just over 240 000 visits. I’ve written more than 500 blog posts covering everything from design, gadgets, trends, technology, advertising, innovations, personal things, branding and more.
About 28% of the visitors [...]

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10 Packaging Concepts That Bring Boring Objects & Products to Life

December 13, 2009

I‘ve spent some time this evening browsing my favorite packaging site The Dieline. That’s when I suddenly realized I should blog about packaging today.
When I speak about creativity and innovation and how it must be a part of every interaction (especially packaging) you have with your customers one of the most common replies I get [...]

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