Zappos.com is one of the companies, which recognize that aspiring creative minds can be a powerful force for the business, and so it does its best to support new talents. The online retailer kicked off a new initiative called Emerging Designer Program to help young designers get their lines selling at the major retailer’s store. The same idea lies behind the contest launched recently by Walmart, which also encouraged people to submit their creations for a change to get them sold at the supermarket.
Author: Anna Rudenko
Procter&Gamble, which is the global Olympics sponsor, is launching a new digital campaign dubbed 1 Thank You = 1 Chance to Win as extension on its ‘Thank You Mum’ activity dedicated to support Olympic athletes (the ‘P&G Thanks, Mom’ was launched back in 2010). The effort was kicked off yesterday, March 5, in the UK ahead of Mothers’ Day celebrated on March 18—it is expected to roll across other markets on respective national days.
Apple, Google and Amazon are the leaders of the World’s Most Admired Companies 2012 chart, unveiled as result of the new survey conducted by the Fortune trade publication and the Hay Group consultancy—a total of 698 companies from 32 countries were included. The companies, which top most of lists of the most successful businesses, are followed by Coca-Cola, IBM, FedEx, Berkshire Hathaway, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Southwest Airlines correspondingly. The first two leaders hold their positions for several consecutive years—for instance, Apple heads the chart for the fifth year in a row, Google was the second most admired company in 2010 and 2011 as well (see the last year’s list here).
Powerade, the sports drink, which helps athletes avoid dehydration while training and competing, is launching a new campaign dubbed ‘Power Through,’ which comes as extension of the ‘Game Science’ marketing effort, also launched ahead of March Madness. The new round of the campaign includes a TV commercial developed by Wieden+Kennedy Portland (the spot aired yesterday, on March 4), as well as print and digital elements to arrive in the coming months. According to Ad Age, the new advertising push from Powerade, which is official sports drink of the NCAA, is highlighting the “underdogs and hard work,” and targets young athletes.
Branding consultancy Creston Unlimited in conjunction with ICM carried out a research, which figured out that most of people’s brand purchasing choices in the UK are influenced by just eight emotions. Brands do not only give people actual goods and services, but they also can make them feel happy, confident, part of a group, and so on.
IKEA, which is known for developing ready-to-use home design solutions and functional furniture for urban living space, is now going further and introduces aktiv, the first project in a new line of designed by Oregon-based ideabox, which produce dwellings to maximize people’s lifestyle. The new house model is “designed to live in… with all the fun, function, and practicality found in every ideabox,” writes the website of the agency behind the project. As any other project devised by ideabox, aktiv is created to meet the needs of Pacific-Northwest homeowners and is totally cost-saving, eco-friendly and is packed with IKEA products.