Social Honeycomb

Ridiculosity: The Philips Smart Handbag

My bud Brian Polensky pointed this techie handbag out to me, and I obviously had to share it here. If this thing ever becomes reality, someday I may be plugging my handbag into my laptop… Sexy.

clipped from www.engadget.com Bags that charge your gadgets aren’t exactly a new concept, but that apparently hasn’t stopped Philips from trying to patent the idea, as evidenced by its recently-revealed application for a so-called “Smart Handbag.” This bag is somewhat unique, however, in that it has separate compartments for your various gizmos, each of which contain their own electric conductive circuit that’s used to top off the devices as needed (the bag itself is apparently charged simply by plugging the strap into a power outlet). As if that wasn’t enough, the other end of the strap would apparently be outfitted with a USB connector, which’d let you plug the bag into your computer and instantly have access to all the devices contained within it. Of course, that’s assuming computers still have USB ports whenever this thing actually makes it off the drawing board.

Handbags, Brandbags: Louis Vuitton Gets Mugged, Doesn’t Support Darfur

I’ll take any chance I can get to blog about handbags. Sometimes I just make reasons up, but there’s actually an important conversation weaving through the Web right now about a famous French top-handle.

As it’s been discussed here, here, here and here, Louis Vuitton is suing 26 year-old Danish artist Nadia Plesner for using an image very similar to one of their monogram totes in an anti-genocide campaign to support Darfur. This is a tough one, buddies–there’s some cognitive dissonance going on here. I instinctively think first, “Eww, why is LV being so heartless and money-hungry about this? Darfur needs our help, and instead of freaking out, they could be finding a way to meaningfully contribute to the cause, even if they were dragged into it.” But at the same time, my instincts say, “I see where your head’s at, LV. Protect your brand–you go and take her down for clearly exploiting your image.” I admit, I love luxury handbags, but my gut ultimately goes with my first response.

The image on Nadia’s “Simple Living” t-shirt and poster (a jab at Paris Hilton’s reality show The Simple Life), pictured at the right, depicts a naked African child holding a Tinkerbell-like chihuahua and what is very obviously her take on a white/monogram multicolore Louis Vuitton handbag. Her description of the illustration reads (eloquently unedited):

My illustration Simple Living is an idea inspired by the medias constant cover of completely meaningless things. My thought was: Since doing nothing but wearing designerbags and small ugly dogs appearantly is enough to get you on a magasine cover, maybe it is worth a try for people who actually deserves and needs attention.

Without this glaringly negative comment, perhaps Louis Vuitton wouldn’t have gotten so bent out of shape over the image. But, I can see why they did. She’s essentially equating the LV brand (and chihuahuas?) with meaninglessness and media whoredom–not the prettiest epithets.

On Nadia’s site, there are plenty of supporters telling her to keep fighting the lawsuit and to continue standing up for herself because ultimately, her goal is a good one. And, it really is. One hundred percent of the money she makes from t-shirt sales goes to the Divest for Darfur fund.

So, does the end justify the means? Maybe.

I think Louis Vuitton, although perhaps within their rights, should have approached this differently. Yeah, at this point it looks like LV essentially got mugged and someone ran off with their handbag. However, with a different approach this could have been brand sharing instead of brand stealing. Like letting a friend borrow your bag because it went perfectly with her outfit. It’s still yours, but you’ll let her use it because in the end, everyone looks hot.

I wish Louis Vuitton had proactively done something to counter Nadia’s negative picture of the brand. Had they publicly shown where they’ve been a socially responsible company or, even better, struck a deal with her to donate a “meaningful” amount of money to her campaign, they may have avoided some of this media messiness. Given all the legal fees, taking that money and donating it to Darfur would probably have cost the company less and resulted in good press.

Louis Vuitton also could have created a place for people to talk about the situation to engage their various publics in a conversation about luxury brands, genocide, charity and anything in between. Just throwing out a lawsuit in this situation really wasn’t the sexiest choice. I think it’ll be hard for LV to rally support on this one. Either they’ll lose (which seems to be the more likely outcome) and be the brand that wanted to sue the girl trying to save Darfur, or they’ll win and be the brand that sued the girl trying to save Darfur. When the health and integrity of the brand is the important issue here, I think dropping the suit and redirecting their energy in a more helpful way would serve Louis Vuitton better in the long term.

I know this isn’t exactly breaking news, but what do you think? Is Louis Vuitton going overboard? Are they right on target? Should chihuahua breeders sue Nadia Plesner, too? If you have any takeaway thoughts, I’d love to see some reactions, ideas or new solutions in the comments section.

In other news, I got a new handbag today. And no, it’s not a Louis Vuitton. (It’s Burberry, *sigh, so pretty.*) Watch for a Today’s Honey post with a photo or two. You know you can’t wait. And don’t even think about mugging me. You think a lawsuit is bad? I’ll cut you.

Greg Verdino Shares Seana Mulcahy’s Musings on “Brand Loozrs”

I think Seana succinctly gets to the heart of a widespread issue that marketers and PR people are facing right now. It truly is not enough to use a tool just because it’s available and people are saying it’s the next big thing. Put the tool in the context of your brand, find out why it can work and make it work for you in a meaningful way. Thanks to Seana for a great post and to Greg for sharing her gems.

clipped from gregverdino.typepad.com In her Online Spin for this week, Seana Mulcahy writes:“Social media marketing is not just throwing up a page on MySpace, Facebook or any other social media site for that matter. You’ve seen some of the biggest U.S. agencies do that for their clients over the past year or so. These folks have patted themselves on the back for being trailblazers. Newsflash: That is not trailblazing, that is ignorant. I could go on and on. However, the bottom line is, look at the ethnographics of such audiences. Consider their life styles and how they use technology. Watch and learn. Don’t just hop over the fence of a walled garden with a sign saying you have 500 friends.” Truer words were never spoken.

Live and Die By Calendars and Clocks

How much of your life do you plan (script, edit, choreograph, scheme…), and how much of it do you just let happen?

Can adults afford to be spontaneous?

I Would Have Failed College…

When people get scared and confused, they do some crazy ish sometimes. If I had a professor who banned her students from using Google or Wikipedia as sources of information or avenues for research, I would have dropped the class, no question. She’s have horrible ratings on ratemyprofessor.com and I doubt that many students would sign up for her class in the future.

So, I’m glad I didn’t go to this school or have this professor, because I would have failed. Big time. I’m that girl who went to the library twice throughout my entire stint in college. Come on, profs- embrace reality.

clipped from mashable.com University Of Brighton Professor Places Ban On Google And Wikipedia University of Brighton professor Tara Brabazon claims that students have grown too accustomed to taking “the easy option when asked to do research.” The easy options being the popular Web reference Wikipedia and that quaint, mischievous little search engine known as Google. And she has now supposedly disallowed any students currently partaking in her course(s) from using any of the two utilities. A number of specialists in certain fields of study – be it history, literature, science, etc. – see the open source landscape of the Web and are frightened. They see chaos. They see so many variables, and so many loose ends, that it appears unsafe to them. So they revert to the trusted resources of years past and completely discount anything new and “officially unapproved.”

Facebook Ads Love You and Your Interests

From a user’s perspective, I don’t like it. From a developer’s perspective, this is smart. Facebook has never been one to let someone else blaze a trail…

Facebook users, what do you think?

clipped from mashable.com Facebook Flyers 2.0: The Promise and Pitfalls of Social Networking Ads Facebook has made some big changes to their “Flyers” advertising format that turns it into a much more advanced advertising system. Advertisers can now target users based on specific data from their profiles, such as interests, age, education, and relationship status. Much like AdWords, the advertiser sets a maximum price per click and a daily budget. Previously, Flyer ads were limited to specific universities or networks, and were charged on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis. Whereas Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft use algorithms to match ads to content, Facebook has the ability to do exact matching on ads to keywords a user has entered in their profile. Things like targetting ads to single males, age 18-30, that play golf, in the Washington DC area, are now possible.

Computers > Peace and Happiness

Well, of course. You can’t blog and share photos on a “peace and happiness.” Mom and Dad, if you’re reading, a shiny new MacBook wouldn’t be a bad gift…

In all seriousness, I’m looking forward to a post-holiday roundup to see how this all pans out. In the meantime, what are you asking for?

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com “The fact that they want computers over clothing and peace and happiness is amazing,” said Shawn DuBravac, the CEA’s economist. “It’s a testament to what the tech industry has done to empower the consumer.” People are doing more with their computers, such as posting videos or writing blogs, Bates said. The demand for laptops is particularly strong, “and you can buy a more powerful one and at a lower price than what you paid for four years ago,” he said.

MySpace: A Place to Learn New Languages

My brother has a hobby of teaching himself to speak different languages. When we lived at home, if he was bored, he would go buy a book about speaking Polish or Chinese or German… Now that he’s a student at an Ivy League university, he’s taking time each semester to take classes on a new language. This semester he’s learning Portuguese. If he wanted to, I think my brother could have more MySpace friends than Tila Tequila.

I have a question, though. Does friendship mean the same thing in every language and culture represented in the MySpace community? If not, is MySpace really just a collection of smaller social, more culture-specific networks, or can we truly continue look at it as the social behemoth it seems to be? I’ll ask my brother- in English…

clipped from mashable.com MySpace Speaking Portuguese, Russian, Polish and More October 14, 2007 — 06:06 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — Share This MySpace is expanding its global reach by launching localized language-specific versions in Brazil, India, Poland and Russia. These are scheduled to be rolled out over the next four months. With 24 versions in 20 countries already, MySpace is the leader of the pack when it comes to localized versions of its social network. Its largest global presence can be seen in the UK an Germany, after its domination in the US, of course.

I Wish I Could Join iFoods.tv

I order most of my meals, but if I could cook like the people on iFoods.tv, I would dine in every day. Niche social networks aren’t always exclusive just to their members– I would never post a video of myself on iFoods.tv but I plan on revisiting the site for food inspiration in the future. From brownies to pizza to these crab cakes, I promise your mouth will water.

clipped from ifoods.tv

Michael Scott: Office Caricature or All Too Real?

I love The Office. Love it. I’m not at the point of obsession (you people know who you are), but I do look forward to my weekly fix of Dunder Mifflin and often find myself doing what E affectionately calls “the shriek laugh” during each episode. But last night, Dunder Mifflin Infinity actually got me thinking beyond Schrute Bucks and Pretzel Days:

Michael Scott: Business to business. The old fashion way. No blackberries. No web sites. I would like to see a web site deliver baskets of food to people.

We all watch scenes like this and laugh, but is it really that far off from reality? I know I’ve had professors and met professionals who may not sound as inane as Michael Scott usually does, but they would definitely agree with his views on technology. There is still such a widespread level of denial surrounding social media, new media, Web 2.0, Web 4.0–whatever you want to call it–and it’s simultaneously laughable and sad.

In my new media in public relations class (look out for us at Podcamp!), we recently discussed how one of our biggest potential challenges going into the workforce will be to persuade our managers to abandon the type of thinking that Michael Scott champions in The Office. There are so many amazing, evolving, exciting tech tools at our disposal–and if we take the time to understand them and harness them, we’ll find success (or at least more of it).

We all know people who are resistant to change, so it’s a worrying thing to be on the cusp of graduation (December 2007, woot!) and feel like I’m about to walk into a world where most people will make faces when I talk about what I believe in. I can only imagine what Michael and Dwight would have to say about me…

Michael Scott: Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me, the choice is easy.

Um, just for the record, I know plenty of people with computers, blackberries and GPS systems, and none of them have ever driven into a lake…

Do you know a Michael Scott?