Small cars with big ideas

Since returning to Brazil two years ago, my wife and I decided to keep costs and our Family carbon emissions low so we opted to have only one car.  She drops me off at work in the morning and I catch a cab back home. It has forced me to walk more, bike more on week-ends and carpool. However, in the past few months I found myself in a few situations where I thought I needed my own transportation.  The other night, after speaking to students at a local university, I found myself walking under the rain at 11:00pm looking for a cab. 

So, this week-end I decided to go to a few dealers looking for a small car.  I test drove two fun imports:  a Mini-Cooper and Fiat's new Cinquecento, with the retro styling I love. 

I also read an interesting article about Toyota's totally new IQ - the world's smallest 4-seater.  I found this video posted on YouTube this week which reveals the six space-saving ideas that were incorporated in the design which the video says will be applied to future projects.  To make it a perfect choice, I wish it were electric. 

For someone like me living in a metropolis like Sao Paulo with tough traffic and limited parking space, these are the type of vehicles that make a lot of sense.

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World's Largest Doritos making more headlines

Our World's Largest Doritos bag is making headlines around the globe. We tracked online buzz from Spain, France, Argentina, Venezuela and today I was happy to see the story make it to Advertising Age. 

Big bag... big news.

The Economist on 2009

The Economist has issued 'The World in 2009', a compilation of predictions for the year ahead. This edition carries an article from Brazil's President Lula da Silva entitled 'Building on the B in BRIC'.

Click here to read the article at economist.com

Portugal catches the Wave of the Future

Last night, the TV Globo evening news aired an interesting report on wave energy. I decided to learn more about it online. The Portuguese Government has launched, what is being called the World's first commercial-scale wave power station, off the coast of Aguçadoura near the city of Porto. The technology uses the motion of ocean waves to create power. The wave energy converters, that look like a huge snake floating in the ocean, were built by a Scottish company called Pelamis Wave Power, and are made up of connected sections that flex as the tide moves creating electricity. This innovative project is already generating electricity to approximately 1,500 families.

Portugal has had an historic connection with the sea when they led the age of exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries so I thought it was pretty cool that they are now taking the lead in wave power - what could become one of the clean energies of the future. 

I found this demo on YoutTube that explains how the technology works... 

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Touchscreens showing up everywhere

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone the world became fascinated by the magic of a fingertip on the phone's screen controlling all the features. HP has done the same with its new TouchSmart family of PCs featuring software designed specifically for touch. Without using a keyboard or mouse, people can do a lot of different things like play music, access files and playlists, zoom in or out of photos or check the stock market (well nowadays maybe you don't want to do that...).

It's interesting to see how touch screen technology is showing up everywhere from check-in kiosks at airports to self-checkouts in supermarkets to digital photo processing at your local drugstore.

HP's new TouchSmart computer will certainly open a wide range of new applications. I'm guessing one of them will be providing elementary school kids with a more interactive and fun learning experience.

Click below to see the demo...

New Campaign on Open Science

Du Pont has initiated a campaign here in Brazil to promote its Open Science platform. Following the footsteps of P&G and IBM, here's another example of a company embracing open innovation as a way to transform the way it brings new ideas to life. With the growth of technology and a business environment that has taken a more collaborative approach, it's fascinating to see how R&D is going through a significant change. R&D teams, which used to take a very internal approach relying on their own research capabilities, are becoming more open to developing partnerships with academic institutions, NGO's or through companies like Innocentive.

New times require new thinking.

Here's the 'Open Science' TV campaign posted on Du Pont's corporate website...

Time to learn from an online movement that has made History

Last week, I spent some time with a few members of our marketing team going over the Barak Obama for America website. We are in the middle of reviewing a prototype of a cool online collaboration project and I thought it would be instructive to learn from the Obama movement. Wow, did we get a lot of inspiring lessons. Valuable lessons on how to focus on the message in simple direct terms with no distractions, as well as how they created actionable online resources to allow everyday people to spark the movement within their local community. Brilliantly done. 

A few days later, our account executive at AlmapBBDO told me the agency is finalizing a comprehensive review of the entire campaign to share with clients and create of forum for discussion on how businesses like ours can learn from this historic movement and fine tune our communication strategies. Although the campaign is over, it's amazing to see how the Obama Movement has changed they way the market will look at the internet as a powerful force of engagement and collaboration. 

Lessons from a Cultural Movement that understood like never before, that it's all about YOU.

TV Networks adapting to the challenges of the large and small screen

Last Friday, I had lunch with two executives at Rede Globo, Brazil's largest and most influential TV network. Great conversation.  They mentioned two fascinating dynamics that are reshaping the TV business:  the large screen and the small screen.  

With high-definition and very large flat screens invading homes all over the country, the network has had to make significant investments in technology upgrades (small production imperfections are now more visible than ever).  On the other hand, because of the radical improvement in video capabilities of mobile phones, the emergence of the iPhone and the availability of a number of mobile devices designed specifically to watch TV programming and movies, a new model is emerging.  A mobile TV model that will have a major impact on how content is produced or re-edited and also have a significant impact on agencies and advertisers as we all learn how to optimize the message to fit on a small screen. With so much at stake, it's not surprising that Globo already has Brazil's most popular website offering streaming video called Globo Videos. 

A few ad-supported models offering streaming video of TV shows and movies are becoming mainstream, like already popular Hulu.

Similar to what happened on the internet, it will be exciting to see which marketers are first to crack the code on providing people with new and engaging experiences on the small screen. 

It's a brave new mobile world that allows content anywhere, anytime, in any pocket.

Jimmy Wales in Sao Paulo

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to Jimmy Wales, the brilliant mind behind one of the most powerful forces in user-generated content. His Wikipedia (which I can't live without), and its vision of the 'sum of all human knowledge' is a non-profit movement that mobilizes hundreds of thousands of people around the globe who collaborate to create the library for the age of knowledge. The story of the movement he has created is inspiring and perfectly aligned with a time in which people are empowered, more than ever, to create like never before.

The speech took place in São Paulo as part of the HSM Expo Management week and sponsored by Telefonica.

Tim Brown from IDEO on the power of play

This month posted on TED, a deliciously inspiring speech with Tim Brown, CEO of innovation and design firm IDEO, called "The Powerful Link Between Creativity and Play" as part of the 2008 Serious Play Conference.

He talks about how certain behaviors we have learned as kids (exploration, building, role play) can be powerful tools in the process of creative thinking.

Click below to be inspired...

For Brazilian consumers hungry to taste the world

This month, our snacks marketing team is coming out with a repositioning for our STAX® line - potato chips in plastic tubes for convenient on-the-go consumption. We have been in the market in Brazil with STAX® since late 2006 with three basic flavors: original, sour cream & onion and cheddar cheese.  We were in search of a brand idea that could help us better differentiate ourselves, as well as, a creative platform that can allow us to better execute at the point of sale.

The new positioning is STAX® For those hungry to taste the world - taking consumers on a journey of flavors from different parts of the world. As Brazil starts playing a growing role in the global scene, young adults have a natural curiosity for what's beyond our borders. In fact, traveling is high on the dream list of our core target group. Tapping into a an amazing portfolio of authentic flavors that have been developed in other International operations, we researched and identified four flavors that resonate well with local consumers (in addition to the original flavor for those who just love a traditional potato chip).  This the new flavor line-up:

Thailand - Sweet Thai Chilli

Argentina - Barbecue

England - Sour Cream & Onion

America - Cheddar cheese

The repositioning work was led by Roberto Angelino, Carla Araujo and her marketing team Alexandre Chiavegatti and Carol Gormezano. The packaging graphics was developed by Cornerstone - a NY-based design firm that has opened a studio in São Paulo. On the back panel, you can find cultural and gastronomic tips from each flavor destination. 

Free Starbucks coffee on election day

I thought the Starbucks initiative giving out a free 12oz coffee to those who vote, brilliant. The TV spot first aired during Saturday Night Live and poses some questions like: 

"What if we all cared enough to vote? Not just 54% of us, but 100% of us? Come into Starbucks on Nov. 4, tell us you voted, and we'll proudly give you a tall cup of brewed coffee on us." 

I also love the tagline: "You & Starbucks. It's bigger than coffee" which gives the brand a renewed sense of purpose. The campaign, which feels more like a movement, marks Starbuck's first entry into national TV advertising.

A little gesture that celebrates this historic moment. 

What's Next Event

Brazil's most influential advertising newspaper, Meio & Mensagem (which has a partnership with Advertising Age), celebrated its 30 years with a full-day event yesterday inviting speakers from the world's largest ad agencies to talk about the future. It was a great opportunity for me to listen to guys like Tom Bernardin (Leo Burnett), Laurence Boschetto (Draftfcb), Bob Greenberg (R/GA), Simon Sheerwood (BBH), Tom Carroll (TBWA) and Andrew Robertson (BBDO). The name of the event was What's Next, a rather ambitious name that is virtually impossible to properly answer. Even more so, if we take into account what the world has gone through in the past months. A lot was said on how consumers are becoming even more empowered, the impact of mobile and the prospects of an increasingly digital society. I didn't feel there was any particular wow in terms of what can potentially happen to the marketing/advertising landscape.

At the end of the day, what I personally enjoy at these types of events are real-life examples of how companies are finding new ways to interact, come out with innovative products and connect with people in ways that are remarkable. Bob Greenberg from R/GA took us through the interesting case study of how his interactive agency has helped create Nokia ViNe, a location-based content sharing service. A service where people can share routes, pictures, sounds and videos. Sounds like an exciting idea to record our traveling experiences and get tips on trips other people have made.

Read article on the Nokia ViNe initiative at MediaWeek.

From The New York Times this weekend...

Great article in The New York Times this weekend, written by Janet Rae-Dupree, on how we shouldn't forget the role of innovation in these tough economic times. Click here to read.

A nice reminder that, even in a volatile marketplace, one of the key roles of marketing is to keep our brands relevant and provide consumers (and specially non-consumers) with reasons to consider us. Yes, our day-to-day just got much tougher but marketers are the ones that should be dreaming of the future and crafting strategies that lead the way.  So, let's get our ideas flowing and make things happen!

Article sent to me by my friend Pablo Aversa

The World's Largest Doritos

Weeks ago our Doritos Brand Team, Alexandre Chiavegatti and Carol Gormezano, told me about a social network community of Doritos-lovers who were asking for a 5kg bag. So, we decided to make it happen.
















This past week dozens of giant bags were sent to members of the community as you can see in this first video.



The growth of social networks is fascinating and the challenge for marketers is how to leverage this universe in a non-intrusive way.

The team decided to have a little more fun and ended up producing a 3m bag with over 132kg of Doritos - obviously the largest in the world. The massive bag was presented at one of the coolest teen events, it went for a ride all over town in the back of pick-up truck and it was hauled up a five-story building. The buzz from both initiatives has been amazing.

In just a few days, over 11,000 mentions in blogs/twitters/sites and over 44,000 people saw the giant Doritos video we posted on YouTube.

This is the video of the giant Doritos...

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What can a landfill become?

There's a wonderful movement happening in cities around the world where degraded areas are being converted into public spaces.  Many of these initiatives are taking place through public-private partnerships. This month, here in São Paulo, what used to be a landfill and a deactivated garbage incinerator has been transformed into a fantastic cultural area called the Victor Civita Square.  Because the soil is contaminated, a large wooden deck was built to connect the spaces and it also leads to an open-air amphitheater.  New gardens had to be suspended and the old incinerator became an educational area to promote good environmental practices and also houses a museum dedicated to sustainability.  An awesome initiative by Instituto Abril - the foundation responsible for Abril's social responsibility projects - in partnership with the City of São Paulo.

Please don't call it a midlife crisis

This morning, I went with my two daughters to a store to buy them an acoustic guitar. Their music teacher, who was kind enough to go with us, helped them choose a Yamaha in a perfect size for them. The store is pretty famous among the music crowd here and it's called 'Made In Brazil'. The shopping experience was fantastic. In one corner of the store, there was a guy with dark glasses jamming on a bass, there were customers testing drum sets and salespeople showing off keyboards. 

Seeing that I had fallen in love with a Gibson guitar, the music instructor asked if I wouldn't like to go back to music classes.  So, to make a long story short, I will be taking electric guitar classes every Wednesday night.

Please don't call it a midlife crisis.

Co-branding work with Azeites Gallo

In a few days, we will be launching...

Sensações® Ao Forno 

with a touch of Gallo Olive Oil 

Sensações® Ao Forno is Brazil's very first baked potato chip, targeting adults who want a great-tasting chip with gourmet-style flavors and value baked snacks.  We're excited that this is our first co-branded flavor. We teamed up with Azeites Gallo® one of Portugal's most traditional brands and Brazil's leading olive oil - in a wonderful collaboration process to develop this flavor. We're extremely proud of our association with a brand that is known for its pure, delicate and fragrant olive oil. Gallo® with its brand icon rooster, has been on the table of generations of Brazilian families.

All great brands have great stories.  In the case of Gallo® (which means 'rooster' in Spanish) it started almost a century ago with a man named Victor Guedes. One morning, he woke up opened his bedroom window to the the sound of a rooster.  Since he had Spanish roots, he registered the brand with two L's (in Portuguese 'galo' is written with one L). The brand and its beautiful rooster has stood the testament of time, coming to stand for suberb quality in olive oil delighting mediterranean style food lovers around the world.

The story of bringing two brands together in a collaborative process was an extremely rewarding experience. An amazing learning opportunity that I personally enjoyed a lot. 

Getting Doritos out of the bag and into cool places

Our Teen Snacks team, led by Carla Araujo, Alexandre Chiavegatti, Carol Gormezano and Oliver Schrikel created an on-premise initiative that takes the Doritos® brand into bars and restaurants, called Doritos® Lovers. In a true collaboration effort with students from a local culinary school and a few restaurants, recipes were created, awarded and are now being introduced in menus throughout town. Pizza Hut® has been involved in the project from its inception and now offers a crunchy pizza with Doritos. Salad Creations® has also introduced a recipe created by student Luciana Perez called Doritos Lovers Salad.

One of Sao Paulo's most traditional bars, Bar do Juarez®, is selling cheese rolls with Doritos toppings. Koi®, a cool chain of japanese restaurants just introduced a Uramaki Doritos Lovers.

Grain of Goodness

A cultural movement usually starts small and eventually grows over time. In the case of Quaker here in Brazil we are starting a movement that starts with a simple idea... that oats can bring goodness to people's lives. The goodness that comes from lower blood cholesterol levels, from improving intestinal health, from helping to slow the rate of digestion curbing appetite. When people feel good about themselves, they feel good about others and that feeling spreads.

The campaign is called Quaker Oats – the grain of goodness.

Interacting with Alexandre Peralta and his passionate team at StrawberryFrog on this assignment has been a memorable experience. The challenge we initially faced was to maintain a balance between the functional story of oats while maintaining a tone that could resonate at a deeper emotional level. It's interesting that the Quaker brand has been in Brazil for 55 years and there's still tremendous opportunity to teach people the benefits of including oats in their daily diet. The brand carries a rich heritage and a powerful image of health & wellness. A brand that inspires a tremendous amount of trust among Brazilians. However, not everyone understands how complete this little grain actually is. One way to help educate people on the benefits of oats will be through this very simple print ad. On one side you have the word seed. On the other page the word harvest, listing the functional benefits of oats. A wonderful reminder that a powerful message can be made with just a few words.



















One thing that makes us very excited about this campaign is that our agency has been able to translate the benefits of oats into one word that we believe can spark a movement, engage and hopefully motivate people to include oats for a more natural and healthier lifestyle. And that word is goodness. Goodness will be at the center of everything we do… from the way the brand breathes, to the causes it embraces.

Take a look at the first TV spot. The voice over talks about the goodness that comes inside out… and the goodness that comes from outside in. Oats can be incorporated in a person's diet in a variety of different ways. That's why we are showing scenes of oatmeal porridge, oats blended with fruits to make shakes, oats on top of a bowl of açaí (a very Brazilian dish that became popular on the beaches in Rio) or even sprinkled over saladas.



As we start planning to ignite our Quaker oats movement, our team would love to hear your comments.














We're fortunate to count on an awesome Quaker Team in Brazil led by Adriana Ribeiro, with Erika Salgado, Sarah Buchwitz, Rodrigo Viselli and Priscilla Cheutchuk. A team of goodness.

Einstein Exhibit in São Paulo

We just got back from the Einstein exhibit, another magnificent event from the Sangari Institute in partnership with the American Museum of Natural History and sponsored by Bradesco. This specific exhibit has been seen by over 2 million visitors in New York, Chiacago, Boston, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, Ottawa and Istanbul.  I'm a huge admirer of the amazing contribution the Sangari Institute is making to the city of São Paulo by bringing world-class exhibitions that provide Brazilian children, students and families with the unique opportunity to explore science in a fun and interactive way. Last year, they brought the Darwin exhibit and earlier this year  The Genome Revolution two equally amazing events.

I found this inspiring quote from one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th Century...

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."  

---  Albert Einstein

Movement to promote Entrepreneurship

I believe that it's during tough times that human that we see the best in ingenuity and creativity. I was thrilled to see that there's a new campaign being aired in Brazil mobilizing young professionals and students to become entrepreneurs. The Endeavor Institute has launched a cultural movement called "Bota Pra Fazer" (that roughly translates as 'Make It Happen'), the local chapter of a global movement. 

On the Endeavor website, there's an interesting call to action: "Unless you get out of your chair, your ideas won't get on their feet."  

One of the TV spots I just saw on air features Luiz Seabra, one of the founders of Natura Cosmetics and one of Brazil's most inspiring business leaders.  A visionary who built one of the country's most respected and corporately-responsible companies.

This is an absolutely wonderful initiative that we should all applaud. At a time of so much volatility and uncertainty, maybe it is the right time to promote new ideas... that may become new and exciting businesses... created by a new generation of leaders who will make the business world a better place.  

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My Personal Blogging Experience

This week I'm celebrating a year that I starting writing this blog. I didn't realize, when I started, that this would be such a personally rewarding experience. I'm really enjoying putting my intellectual curiosity to test. Writing has forced me, like never before, to look at things with an even sharper eye, be even more inquisitive and pay extra attention to my own experiences. Good and bad. Whether I'm reading a book, buying something at the grocery, looking at things around me waiting for a flight or just exchanging marketing ideas with a colleague, I find myself constantly thinking if there's an interesting story that I would like to share. It has also been humbling to read posts in blogs of people I know and thinking "wow, what an interesting experience that guy had and how well he was able to put his story together."  The other day I was looking for a specific case to study to illustrate a point I wanted to make at a class and I found myself going back to my posts and rediscovering thoughts I had months ago. 

 

I hope my MacBook and I will keep on having fun blogging...   

A beautiful story about wasps, honey and how to be good to the environment

It's not easy finding great corporate environmentally-friendly initiatives that make an engaging story.  I fell in love with this inspiring ad from Herman Miller - manufacturer of office furniture and equipment....

"At Hermann Miller, we've managed to take our company philosophy and bottle it.

In 1995, we moved into the Greenhouse, our new, environmentally friendly manufacturing and office facility in Holland, Michigan. One day, we noticed large colonies of angry paper wasps had decided to make the exterior of our building their home. But we weren't about to reach for the pesticides. Our solution? Bees. Six-hundred thousand of them, housed in 12 beehives on the Greenhouse grounds. Before long, the bees had persuaded the wasps to move elsewhere. And our new friends cross-pollinated the surrounding fields, giving us spectacular wildflowers. We also had another favorable result:  Honey. And lots of it. So we began harvesting and bottling about 5,000 pounds of Greenhouse Honey a year as gifts for our guests. And while the honey may only come in a 4-once bottle, we believe the story behind it speaks volumes. To us, the honey exemplifies our commitment to the environment, to those who live in it, and to those who will inherit it. Angry wasps included. If you'd like to learn more about what we're doing for a better world around you, visit hermanmiller.com/environment."

Wow... the power of storytelling at its best. Not only an inspiring story but a real-case example of how companies can make small contributions with big impact on creating a better world.

Where do you go to ideate?

Later this month we will be putting together a 2-day innovation workshop. The planning phase has been incredible, from establishing clear objectives of the territories and cultural correlations we will be ideating against, to finding the right moderator, to debating on the stimulus we will be using, to confirming the final list of some extraordinary people with a variety of different backgrounds who will be helping out in our collaborative effort. We found a fantastic location here in São Paulo called Casa do Saber (the house of knowledge) - a trendy space with an awesome calendar of short-term courses in areas such as philosophy, arts, geopolitics or literature. We went there last week to check it out and we couldn't have found a more inspiring place to hold our innovation session. A perfect lounge-type setting that seems to be just right to spark the type of discussion we want to have on what's next.

Tom Kelly from IDEO, mentioned in his book 'The Ten Faces of Innovation' the importance of finding an ideal space outside of the office to listen, think, discuss, ideate.  I couldn't agree more. 

Where do you go to ideate?

 

Biodiesel

It was very nice to see a Petrobras advertorial in Fortune magazine last week covering its development of biodiesel from organic vegetable inputs (cotton seeds, castor beans, soybeans, sunflower seeds), animal input (bovine, swine or chicken fat) or residual waste (residual oils from food-frying processes).  The article explains that, in the case of vegetable inputs, Petrobras is purchasing from approximately 55,000 farmers in order to obtain the Social Fuel Seal granted by the Ministry of Agrarian Development.

I have been a huge fan of Petrobras' leadership in sugarcane-based ethanol which is a benchmark globally and has placed Brazil at the forefront of a cleaner renewable energy model. So, it's great to see how they are researching and developing a second generation of biofuels.