soulsight®

Credit: enschedeaanzee.nl

Wish you could snap your fingers and a cold beer shows up? How about a quick phone call? Grolsch has found a refreshing way to bring cold to the streets of the Netherlands with its "Cool*Season" campaign. Just dial up the "Cool*Hotline" and a Grolsch-slinging rep will zoom in on a scooter (complete with refrigerated sidecar, no less) and trade your other brand of beer for a chilled can of Grolsch Premium Pils. Each can features a "Cool*Meter", ensuring you'll get the optimal chilled experience. Very cool.

For more info on other "Cool*Initiatives", visit the Grolsch site.

Nearly ten years ago, BP rebranded themselves as "beyond petroleum". However, with this year's controversial oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Greenpeace has suggested that the company is in need of a new logo better suited for its "dirty business" and has launched a contest in search of the best redesign. The winning entry will be used as a part of Greenpeace's international tar sands campaign against BP.

To enter Greenpeace's Behind the Logo competition, submit your redesign by June 28th, 5:30 GMT.

For more information on the recent BP Gulf oil spill, visit the Greenpeace site.

Think next. At FUSE 2010, discover how consumers and businesses alike are settling into this “new normal,” and what we must do as brand strategists and designers to Reclaim the Future and create new opportunities for our brands.

The FUSE community unites brand strategists, designers, creative directors and trend forecasters assembling to explore the meaning of brands in a new world and the role of design and trends in keeping those brands relevant for consumers. Soulsight is excited to be a part of FUSE 2010. Strategy Director Erin Paul and Account Services Director George Argyros will be presenting along with Moira Cullen, Senior Director of Global Design at The Hershey Company. Why the Middle of the Road is Where you Get Squished Do you matter? In this provocative and challenging session, Moira Cullen, George and Erin will share insights on how to be more than a note taker for your client and brand team. Tools and tips will be shared from both the agency and client perspective. • Be Brave: the importance of providing an expert point-of-view • Moving From a Monologue to a Dialogue: the key to speaking their language • Building Your Arsenal: tools to guide the process, direct the vision, and aid in the “sell-up”

The power of packaging as a billboard for your product was, quite nicely I might add, reinforced over the holiday season.

Like many, I enjoy spying on my neighbors via the boxes they have on the curb the day after Christmas. Yikes, the Smiths got a 72 inch flat panel! The Jones got another treadmill (good luck with that).

What struck me this year was that a company that doesn't even have a package for its product, or ever will, understood this premise so much that it went to all the trouble of creating a nice "little" box to be left on corners throughout the land in a smart guerilla marketing effort.

Mini, one of our favorite examples of a brand that embraced its authenticity, understood this natural human behavior. (I assure you, it's natural!)

Just after Christmas, Mini strategically distributed massive cardboard cartons with torn gift wrapping in trash heaps all over Amsterdam. Each box had a large diagram of the car with the words MINI COOPER across the top as if the car had been packaged inside. Kudos to Ubachswisbrun/JWT.

To us, it further emphasizes the power of good packaging and the tractor beam-like effect that it has. Mini's recognition of this fact makes me feel all warm inside on a freezing winter day. Now if I can only get the Ferrari people to return my call about that custom clam shell.

Soulsight's creative team attends the YPC (Young Professionals of Chicago) event with the CEO of MillerCoors, Leo Kiely. This event was part of YPC's CEO Breakfast series. In June, MillerCoors opened its new corporate headquarters in Chicago. At this event, Mr. Kiely shared his knowledge and experiences leading MillerCoors and the beer industry through a company joint venture while focusing on its business strategy and continued goal of becoming America's best beer company. It was a great breakfast and early morning of networking and Q and A with Mr. Kiely.