TECHNOLOGY
- A new Web site takes the Google Earth concept – satellite imagery & 3-D maps – a step further. EveryScape is a virtual world that enables users to check out popular places, hotels, restaurants and shopping from a three-dimensional, first-person viewpoint. The site lets visitors experience the inside and outside of locations (in New York, Boston, Aspen, Miami and Laguna Beach) by taking an eye-level “walk” through trendy bars and restaurants, hotel lobbies and surrounding streets – all from the comfort of home.
CHARITABLE GIVING
Generating lots of buzz online is FreeRice, a multiple choice vocabulary game created by its sister site Poverty.com. For every word answered correctly, the organization donates 20 grains of rice to the UN to help in the fight against world hunger. The organization’s goals are listed as 1.) Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free. 2.) Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. The site also keeps a running total of grains of rice donated. November’s total was 4,768,969,790 grains of rice donated.
FASHION & RETAIL
Beginning February 2008, Target will be the exclusive retailer of Converse Inc.’s (a Nike Inc. subsidiary) “One Star” apparel and footwear collection. The “One Star” collection, featuring vintage inspired sport lifestyle apparel and footwear, will also be available at Target.com.
H&M is partnering with Finnish textile company Marimekko in a collection for women and children that will include tunics, dresses, hats and bags in their signature prints. Marimekko at H&M will launch April 2008.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Jamba Juice, the retailer of blended-to-order fruit smoothies, is teaming up with Nestlé USA for an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement. Nestlé will produce and distribute a line of healthy ready-to-drink beverages under the Jamba brand name. The line is expected to roll out in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2008 and will include smoothies incorporated with Jamba’s healthy vitamin and mineral boosts.
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
UK-based Ad-Air Group has created the largest aerial advertising medium in the world. All ads in the network of flat, on-the-ground billboards (each 5 acres in size) will be strategically placed along the flight paths of the world’s major airports. Given their enormous size, passengers will have plenty of time to reflect on an ad’s message as their plane takes off or approaches an airfield. The company spent more than seven years securing strategically placed plots of land and will charge a reported GBP 40,000 - 80,000 per month, based on an ad’s location. The first ad, for a real estate company, debuted in Dubai in October. The ad will be seen by an estimated 14 million travelers each year, but its sheer size has already earned it a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records and provided the client company with plenty of free publicity.
MEDIA
In an effort to extend their online reach, Lifetime Television and Warner Bros. Television both recently launched women's digital-entertainment community sites.
- MyLifetime.com, the new online destination for Lifetime, partners with the Glam Media network for fashion and beauty content, About.com for how-to content and Hearst Digital for shared broadband-video and lifestyle channels. The site plans to expand into social networking, with profile pages and message boards, in early 2008.
- Warner Bros. Television launched MomLogic.com, a community-oriented Web site for mothers, to provide parenting information and celebrity mom gossip.
Peggy Northrop has left her post as Editor-in-Chief at More, a position she has held since April 2004, to become Editor-in-Chief of Reader's Digest.
- Late last month, Condé Nast introduced a standalone Web site for W Magazine, Wmagazine.com. All W content was removed from its previous online home, style.com. The move followed Condé Nast’s recent efforts to develop rich Web sites for its magazines instead of grouping brands together into broader portals. Wmagazine.com is currently in beta format and will officially launch in January. Next year, Condé Nast plans to build companion sites for Gourmet and Bon Appétit, which are currently housed at Epicurious.com. In addition, Condé Nast Traveler will move out of Concierge.com in 2008 or 2009.
- Beginning with its January issue, Bon Appétit is remaking itself as a “younger, more accessible” title. The updated issue will introduce a new logo and begin catering to a younger audience with more “how-to” techniques. The magazine is hoping its average reader age — hovering around 50 — will drop as a result of the magazine’s makeover.
- Men’s Health is testing a new spin-off called Men’s Health Living.
