Recapturing Americana: Everything Inauguration

Are you working today? Playing hooky to watch the inauguration festivities? Or, like us, you are spending half the day watching everything presidential on Hulu and CNN! We thought we'd make your day a little easier - today's post is a compilation of fun facts and information about the inauguration.

If you want to watch the inauguration, but still get a little work done, try Hulu. They're going to stream it live, but you can watch it in a small pop up window while your work hangs out in the background.

Do you need to know - event by event - what the schedule is for today? From the morning procession to the actual swearing-in, luncheon and wrapping up with the ball this site from the Senate gives you the facts, history and current plan for today's festivities. For example, did you know the first inaugural ball was thrown in 1804 for James and Dolley Madison?

Maybe you want to mix in a little design references and home decor influences into your day? If so, Bloomacious has a great wrap up detailing the history and designs of the official White House Presidential china patterns. Our personal favorite is the subdued elegance of the John Quincy Adams administration's choice and Woodrow Wilson's dramatic black and gold setting. Oh. and for fun, Bloomacious also has a poll going on trying to determine what Michelle Obama will be wearing tonight at the ball. Head on over and vote!

If you happen to be playing hooky and relaxing in a Starbucks, some locations are streaming the inauguration coverage live from 10 until 2, so you won't have to miss a moment while you wait in line for your mocha. And, in the spirit of Barack Obama's dedication to volunteerism, Starbucks will be beginning a new campaign on January 21st called Pledge 5. For any customer that pledges five volunteer hours, Starbucks will reward them with a free tall coffee. They are hoping to inspire 1 million hours of community service.

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Recapturing Americana: Beauty is Patriotic

Everyone has patriotic, presidential fever! The beauty, makeup and fashion retailer Sephora has created their own pursuit of liberty and gorgeous skin with their in-store displays. We particularly love the creation of a "Beauty Bill of Rights"!

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Marketing to the Sensory Deprived

Yesterday's post was all about how we as a population are sensory deprived and in need of innovative ways to reconnect. Manufacturers, corporations and advertisers are looking to do the same by approaching the consumer using many of their senses for better brand recognition.

In December, Kenzo created billboards advertising their new scent "Flower by Kenzo" by construction billboards that contained real flowers for passersby to collect. They gave away over 50,000 flowers in the month long promotion, but we're betting the memory lasted long after the bloom faded.

Some nightclubs are going so far as to employ ODO7, an "aroma jockey" that controls the vibes at their venues by mixing a seamless blend of the worlds finest scents for the crowd to create a more unforgettable experience.

The Cuttie Cut Hair Salon advertising isn't only fun to the touch, it's great fun for kids to play around with. And, for those kids a little nervous about a hair cut, it might be a good ice breaker.

Packaging even gets into the action by adding tactile elements to intrigue the senses. Madrid-based branding agency Baud made a braille-printed label of Baud’s “Lazarus Wine” which was not necessarily intended for the blind; "The primary objective of the design was to achieve a wine of the highest quality elaborated by sensory methods."

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From Wrappers into Fashion

The TerraCycle story is a tale of ultimate Eco-Capitalism. It all started in 2001 when two Princeton University students set out to change the way people do business. Inspired by a box of worms, these students had a dream: a company could be financially successful while being ecologically and socially responsible.

The company has taken their dream to the next level, inspiring the consumer to become environmentally responsible and TerraCycle is paying them to do it. Simply sign up on their website to collect juice pouches, wine corks, yogurt containers, cookie wrappers and the like and TerraCycle will send you a check. Yes, it's true, they will pay you for your trash.

This is a perfect way for schools, organizations and charities to make extra money, and in these tough economic times, maybe even the average consumer will be willing to send in their cookie wrappers. TerraCycle then turns the collected wrappers and containers into saleable, unique merchandise including shower curtains, hand bags, school supplies and packaging for the companies plant food and sprays.

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Innovative Marketing Campaign: Body Shop

Getting back to their roots of natural and ethical products, The Body Shop launched two new product lines last week - the Wellbeing Range and Nature's Minerals. Nature's Way to Beautiful - the new campaign - focuses heavily on making the customer recognize they are beautiful, naturally, at any age. It might seem strange that a make up company created an entire launch based around women being beautiful naturally, however The Body Shop is promoting strength and beauty through individuality.



The Wellbeing line introduces four new scents to relieve stress in the modern world. Total Energy using guarana, Pure Detox (wasabi), Divine Calm using lavender and Deep Sleep (camomile) Treatments. Modern "ailments" today include stress, sleep deprivation and anxiety. The Wellbeing line was developed in response to these symptoms.The Natures Minerals line uses just that - natural minerals (kaolin clay, mediterranean clay, mica, iron oxide and titanium dioxide), which are chemically tested to be safe for people with sensitive skin and no waxes, binders, preservatives or fragrances.

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Truth in Cool Advertising

We keep running across these very cool advertisements and imagery that really grab our attention. Which means, of course, that these advertisements have broken through the barrage of pop ups, bill boards, web banners, TV commercials and product placements that make us yawn... We hope you enjoy some funny and innovative advertising strategies as much as we do!

Nationwide Insurance:
Eclipse Gum:Tide:FedEx: Read More..

Model-Less Fashion Show

Target has done it again - on November 6th and 7th in Grand Central Station in NYC passersby were able to watch the first holographic modelless fashion show featuring holographic models walking the runways in Target's clothing from designers such as Mossimo and Isaac Mizrahi. The show repeated itself every 10 minutes and could also be seen on their website as well as their YouTube and Facebook sites. Click the Target image to watch the show or see our screen captures below:

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