Friday, March 20, 2009

Couldn't have said it better myself

While searching through Fast Company's website, I came across a article of 8 items needing improvement. While I agree with some of the more common ones, I agreed with one I wouldn't necessarily have thought of if I had been asked to write this article - hearing aids.

Understanding hearing loss is not just for the elderly. Deafness is found in my family, and two family members have been through the rounds of testing for hearing equipment. Although the technology has increased since their introduction, they still could use some work today such as improving the static waves coming from the ear piece.

Take for instance the blue tooth phenomenon. My boyfriend has one that doesn't even shake when he speaks from a little piece of plastic attached to it recording his airwaves. Now, why don't we shrink that model to fit in some one's ear who could really benefit from it. The results could be astonishing.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Throwback Branding Pays a Hefty Price

Marketers love to make something hip and cool to a product that's already hip and cool, and for some reason they receive huge backlash for any of their changes. An easy example would be Tropicana's terrible reviews of it's packaging of juices. For what some would call "generic," I saw a fresh look on freshly squeezed orange juice. If it was me, I would have even made the orange on the package out of clear plastic which in turn lets the consumer know when the juice is about to run out.

Now Pepsi along with other marketers are trying to bring back the classic versions of their products from the 1960's and 1970's in hopes that people will approve. Which, if you think about it, if it worked then, how would it not work now?