As we head towards another weekend. I would urge you to think about what you will be doing with the various “Stuff” that you own.  Why am I asking you this? Well, I attended a Bookshop Barniewith Julie Hill on her new book “The Secret Life of Stuff: A Manual for a New Material World” And it got me thinking.  One thing I found out from doing some additional research was that stuff moves through a system:

1. Extraction
2. Production
3. Distribution
4. Consumption
5. Disposal

Watch a video from storyofstuffproject that gives a nice overview.

“We all love stuff – I am no exception” says Julie Hill, former director (now associate), Green Alliance and goes on to argue that: “we humans have a come a long way – why waste our talents worrying about bins?” Consequently, The Ecologist magazine says that Hill’s book is “not especially realistic”.  In her book The Secret Life of Stuff: A Manual for a New Material World she talks about choice editing and how the world is changing due to a growing population.

What struck me as most significant was the fact that as Apple had only the day before launched their iPad2 then why was she advocating a book about the secret life of stuff, when it could be argued that as a physical paper product, surely by buying it we would be contributing to the increase in more book purchasing “Stuff”. I don’t know the answer to this question. However as I look forward to the weekend all I can think about is all that “Stuff”  I will be putting onto my new  iPad2

The Secret Life of Stuff: A Manual for a New Material World is available to buy now at amazon

At the end of 2010, Harris Interactive released its first Youth EquiTrend Study in which it identified the brands with the highest equity among 8-12, 13-17, and 18-24 year olds. Compared side-by-side, the results make for some interesting reading:

“Today’s youth are not just tomorrow’s consumers; they are already consumers in their own right with their own money to spend. What companies need to remember is that if brand loyalty is built in these early years, that brand loyalty will remain for years to come,” according to Regina A. Corso, SVP, Youth and Education Research at Harris Interactive. “At this stage, the brands that resonate the most with youth are mostly ones that involve food – six of the top ten are candy, snacks or restaurants.”

Young Adults “Googley” for Technology

Though sweets and toys topped the brand equity lists for younger teens and tweens, for young adults, it’s all about tech. The ongoing Google vs. Facebook battle continues, though, among this group, Google ranks highest in brand equity, followed by Facebook. Apple’s iPod is ranked third in brand equity for young adults, followed by Gatorade and Target, ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. ”As kids age, their tastes, and therefore their favorite brands, change with them. Tweens are all about Disney and Nick as well as gaming, where teens add more technology to the mix.

For young adults the snack foods are still there, but technology takes an even stronger presence in their top ten,” according to Corso. “It’s also important to remember that youth have ways to learn about brands, as well as discuss brands, that previous generations could not have dreamed of. When marketers focus their efforts on just adults, or even just young adults, the teens and tweens take notice of that perceived snub. And, not only do they have the tools at their disposal to let their dissatisfaction with a brand be known, they are not afraid to use them.”

To read the rest of research findings visit here

Buyology Inc. has released its “first annual” list of the most desired brands in the U.S. Of interest to Thinkbigbebig Entrepreneurs readers are what the firm calls Neurotypes. These Neurotypes are used as brand profiling techniques, which uses a combination of EEG brain monitoring and eye-tracking data.

Similar to lovemarks Neurotypes™ (non-conscious relationships) quantitatively determine which of sixteen relationships a brand or business currently has for a given target audience and the relative strength of the relationship, or signal strength, relative to competitors and other, beacon brands who, although they may be outside the category, have successfully established similar relationships.

Each of the four prime Neurotypes represent a unique relationship profile based on both original global research and an extensive review of multi-disciplinary scientific literature. There is both a primary and secondary Neurotype dimension in a brand relationship that results in sixteen distinct Neurotypes shown in the chart below. Think of it as a sixteen-drawer file cabinet. Beacon brands are populated on the chart to illustrate a key brand in each Neurotype. Two hundred and forty US brands have been classified thus far and iconic brands for each profile are identified here. Another collection of 240 brands have recently been classified in Japan.

Once typed and calibrated, a marketer can use Neurotypes to assess the impact of their current marketing activities, determine what activities will be more effective in the future and gain provocative and proprietary insights on how to strengthen the brand’s relationships across the 6P framework (product, package, placement (distribution), price, promotion and positioning).

Any existing data (attitudes, usage, media consumption, etc.) that is tagged by brand can be reclassified by Neurotype. Accordingly, Buyology is working with some of the most extensive databases in the world to populate the proprietary Neurotype database with comprehensive insights; once a company knows it’s Neurotype it will instantly have access to a wealth of material guiding their behavior and performance. You can find out more at Buyology Inc.

Brandalism is a Portmanteau and has many definitions. The  Urban Dictionary defines it as the creeping corporatisation of schools, libraries and other public buildings, which are gradually being daubed with company logos and slogans. Coined by graffiti artist Banksy, and expounded on in his book “Wall and Piece”

However there was an earlier citation by —Gareth Branwyn, “Jargon Watch, Wired, February 1999 who defines Brandalism as the increased “defacing” of schools, libraries, and other public spaces with logos, advertisements, and corporate slogans.

My interpretation of this concept can also be related to products and services. How many brands are you currently wearing, consuming, or have eaten today. I would argue that its probably five or more.  We’re all victims of brand overdose and over endorsement.  How many of us can honestly say we that we haven’t thought about a little bit of brandalism?  We can’t go anywhere now without the idea of brand being pushed squeezed or thrown into our faces. see example (Katie Price aka Jordan) as an example.

It would seem that counter culture has become so mainstream that the reason we do things from a brand prospecctive has been forgotten and has been replaced by the satisfaction that is derived from the brand. Brands take note, consumers are not stupid and will only buy into you when you buy into them.