Working closely with our All-Things-Beverage client ‘First Beverage Group’ we at TimeZoneOne have been learning all about the USA beverage scene. I came across this very interesting fact last week and thought I would share it with all the beverage lovers out there…
Three firms control 89% of US soft drink sales. This dominance is obscured from us by the appearance of numerous choices on retailer shelves. This has created an illusion of diversity which hides a lack of real choice.
To visualize the extent of this illusion some smart boffin (for some reason boffins have loads of time on their hands) designed the below cluster diagrams to represent the number of soft drink brands and varieties found in the refrigerator cases of 94 Michigan retailers, along with their ownership connections.
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. Kiwis can’t actually fly, in fact, as birds go the kiwi probably isn’t the most impressive, they’re kind of odd really – they sound like this…
…they’re nocturnal, they have little stubby wings, stubby legs, a round body, a long awkward beak and they lay eggs that are 20% of their own body mass, which is like giving birth to a 4-year-old. But maybe it’s that kind of can-do attitude that has seen it become a national symbol.
The story goes that once upon a time the kiwi was an impressive, colorful bird, with large impressive wings who soared above the forests. One day the god of the forest gathered the birds together and told them that the bugs on the forest floor were killing the tree roots and that if someone didn’t go live down there and sort it out the forest would die and they would have no home – however, whoever went to live on the forest floor would need to adapt to that environment and they’d have to leave behind their beautiful feathers and they would never fly again. As you can imagine, there weren’t a lot of wings being raised or feathered heads nodding, but the kiwi volunteered and was transformed into the odd little creature he is today. The other birds got to keep their pretty feathers, but they all owe a debt to the humble kiwi who scurries around in the dark cleaning up the forest floor. Kiwi’s are modest creatures, we don’t need to show off with bright plumage, we just like to get the job done and focus on the bigger picture.
Here’s a wee game I whipped up that doesn’t illustrate any of the points of that story, but it does have flying kiwis (the bird) dodging flying kiwis (the fruit) for people who are into that sort of thing. I didn’t bother to set up a high score thing, but feel free to leave your score in the comments so that everyone can know how awesome you are, try to be honest or, if you’re going to lie, be epic and say you got over a trillion points.
(if your reading this through an RSS feed clickhere to join the fun)
David ‘kiwi as*’ McLeod
*As (particle – intensifier)
1. too, indeed, really, so, very, quite - an intensive particle following immediately after the word it relates to. It may be used after all types of bases, but particularly with negatives, adjectives and verbs as described below. Sweet as = That is quite satisfactory! Na, sweet as, I’m full as = No, indeed, I have eaten too much! 2. very, extremely, so, most - when preceded by an adjective preceded by hard out it expresses the superlative. This place is hard out beautiful as. = This place is extremely beautiful. 3. best , accomplished - when following wicked or mean. MJ was wicked as at basketball = Michael Jordon was the best basketball player. MJ was a mean as singer = Michael Jackson was a very accomplished singer
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME as, als, alse, also, OE alswā, ealswā all so, quite so, quite as, as; c. MD alse (D als), OHG alsō (MHG álsō, álse, als, G also so, als as, as if, because) circa 1960; Nu Zild BRO sweet as, bro.
Tom Peter’s has written a new book called The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. Below are the top 19 E’s of Excellence, which I think are fabulous reminders of why we are in the business called advertising. If we strive everyday to embrace at least two to three of these TimeZoneOne and ourselves will be better and happier as a team and individuals.
•Enthusiasm! Be an irresistible force of nature!
•Energy. (Be fire! Light fires!)
•Exuberance! Vibrate – cause earthquakes!
•Execution! Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney! Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine: “Blame no one! Expect nothing! Do something!”
•Empowerment! Respect and appreciation rule! Always ask, “What do you think?” Then listen! Then let go and liberate! Then celebrate!
•Edginess! Perpetually dancing at the frontier, and a little or a lot beyond.
•Enraged! Determined to challenge and change the status quo! Motto: “If it ain’t broke, break it!”
•Engaged! Addicted to MBWA / Managing By Wandering Around. In touch. Always.
•Electronic! Partners with the world 60/60/24/7 via electronic community building of every sort.
•Encompassing! Relentlessly pursue diverse opinions – the more diversity the merrier! Diversity per se “works”!
•Emotion! The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales. The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.
•Empathy! Connect, connect, connect with others’ reality and aspirations! “Walk in the other person’s shoes” – until the soles have holes!
•Experience! Life is theatre! Make every activity-contact memorable! Standard: “Insanely Great” / Steve Jobs; “Radically Thrilling” / BMW.
•Eliminate! Keep it simple!
•Error-prone! Ready! Fire! Aim! Try a lot of stuff and make a lot of booboos and then try some more stuff and make some more booboos – all of it at the speed of light!
•Evenhanded! Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe!
•Expectations! Michelangelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Amen!
•Eudaimonia! Pursue the highest of human moral purpose – the core of Aristotle’s philosophy. Be of service. Always.
•EXCELLENCE! Never an exception! If not Excellence, what?
Urban Adventours run fantastic cycle tours around Boston. It is a great way to see the city. Back in July I was lucky enough to visit this great historic city. The bike tour was the best fun! It was a great day!
Saw this on one of those little ‘human interest’ bits that they do to pick you back up after the real News and the song’s been stuck in my head all day. It’s some happy kiwis singing for their supper at McDonalds. I know it’s kind of become a thing to video yourself rapping your order at the drive-thru and post it on YouTube, but those are all really annoying, this is much nicer. It’s a shame that the McDonald’s staff don’t just play along.
Celebrating Māori Language Week brought to you by the color Kikorangi and the letter I.
McDonalds = Maki Tānara.
The little lines that appear above some vowels in māori word are called macrons or tohutō .
A vowel with a macron is lengthened in pronunciation. In māori, the length of a vowel can completely change the meaning of a word. The word KĀKĀ means parrot but the street sign pictured has only recently had macrons added. Previously it caused a lot of giggles and finger pointing from Kura Kaupapa students on their way to school because, in the absence of macrons, it is another word for tiko. The South Waikato council has since added macrons to a number of street signs and the Porirua City Council are planning to do the same.
Ko te reo te tino whetū o tēnei wiki kī a au, heoi, kī a TZ1 whānui, ko Foxy rāua ko Hamo ngā whetū i tēnei wiki. Ngā mihi nui ki korua. Ka pai ō korua mahi.
In a world full of apples and oranges, creative people are bananas. The creative mind is a funny thing, it’s kind of like a hyperactive 4 year old, it has a short attention span, it likes to wander off when mum (mom) and dad aren’t looking, it’s prone to the occasional toy-throwing tantrum and it’s always asking ‘Why?’ and it doesn’t even care what the answer is. Children are very creative, most of us lose that creative ability as we grow up and haircuts, mortgages and real jobs. Fortunately for those of us in the business of being creative, we never really have to grow up. Our child-like imaginations and ability to send our mind off for a wander are our greatest assets, they allow fresh perspectives on everyday things.
I find randomness inspirational. I keep a collection of completely random objects and images that I’ve found. If every I’m stuck for an idea I flick through my collection of randomness and see what it sparks off. Throwing a little randomness into the mix allows you to move beyond the obvious solution to the brief and start exploring solutions from a fresh perspective. It’s this kind of random mind-wandering that has created links between polar bears and soft drink, gorillas and chocolate and pirates and breakfast cereal.
And if your ever really stuck for a fresh take on things, just ask yourself – What Would the Japanese Do?
Celebrating Māori language Week brought to you by the color Māwhero and the digraph Wh.
A rabbit in a tea cup – He rāpeti kei roto i te kapu tī.
There are 2 māori words for banana and a kind of interesting, but probably not really, story behind them. When Māori first arrived on these shores, between 800AD and 1300AD, they brought with them their crops from the pacific. One of those crops was the banana, but it is too cold to grow bananas here. So by the time Europeans arrived and brought the banana back to these shores, the memory of the banana and the word for banana was long forgotten. So Māori adopted and adapted the English word to create the word Panana (there’s no B in the māori alphabet). The other māori word for banana, that has been adopted more recently, is Maika. This is the Tahitian word and, because the languages are closely related, it is likely that this is what the original māori word for banana would have been. So Banana = Panana or Maika.
Create a New Zealand Consulate experience in your very own home or office! Decorate the room with New Zealand tourism posters as seen in Murray’s office in Flight of the Conchords. You can download high resolution images from this guy. Here’s a couple of my favorites…
Here’s a link to the Tourism New Zealand website, because seriously… ewe should come.
Someone smart person who was involved with the launch of Toyota’s new little car, the iQ, thought designing a font for the campaign was a good idea. But an even better idea was do it with the car.
I’ve been working on projects for the U.S. Army race teams recently and while doing my homework, I stumbled across some impressive images that show just how well this pattern does its job of making the U.S. Army soldiers almost invisible…
There are 4 soldiers in the next image…
And the image below has 4 soldiers and 7 ninjas…
The next evolution in camoflage will no doubt be some kind of stealth suit the bends lightwaves around the person wearing it. Here’s a nice little marketing stunt for a public awareness campaign where they created this illusion with a film camera and a projector.
This week wecelebrate the the Māori language with Māori Language Week – Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. Māori Language Week is about people who don’t usually speak Te Reo ‘giving it a go’ and it’s about being supportive and accepting of those who choose to speak it as an everyday language. Every week is Maori Language Week at my whare.When our daughter was about 6 months old, my wife and I were invited along to a hui about raising bilingual tamariki. There we learned about the advantages of raising your child bilingually and about some of the wrongs of the past and the uncertain future that the māori language faces.
So, because raising a child wasn’t difficult enough already, we decided to raise ours with a language that we hadn’t learned to speak yet. This seemed like a bad idea at the time, but our 2 year old girl is now very chatty in 2 languages. It hasn’t been easy and it’s not going to get any easier, we still need to keep studying and working hard to stay ahead of the superior learning ability that children possess. So Māori Language Week is important to my whānau because it helps create positive attitudes and acceptance towards Te Reo Māori and makes it a normal part of everyday life in New Zealand, if only for a week. Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu.
I really get a kick out of seeing Te Reo Māori in the mainstream for the week. For example, last year TVNZ’s morning talk show Breakfast was renamed Parakuihi for the week and this morning the used māori placenames and days of the week for the weather report. Also, this year, Nickelodeon are playing Te Reo Maori episodes of Spongebob squarepants – ara ko Spongebob Tarau Porowhā.
So for a little Wiki o Te Reo Māori fun, here’s some kiwi placenames for you to try at home…
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. 
