The glamper: a super-deluxe way of camping

29-9-2014

We’ve spotted ‘Glamping‘ at Landal Greenparks as a more luxurious way of camping in 2011. At Tinywood Homes they took this a step further and introduced this super-deluxe ‘glamper’. The wooden cottage is standard two levels high and have a kitchen, bathroom, central heating, porch and hot tub. The Tinywood cottage are available in three versions and all are small enough to be transported by a truck. The houses are for sale from £ 35,000 and for now only available in the UK.

An extra cold cocktail with IceLiners

25-9-2014

Keep your cocktail at the desired temperature with the silicone molds of IceLiners. The mold creates a layer of ice in a cocktail or whiskey glass that will keep your drink cool. It is simple to use: pour a small amount of water in the glass, with the mold in it, and keep it in the freezer. Instead of water you can poor in a (alcoholic) beverage as well. Try it with mint leaves or fruit which will give a festive effect to your drink. Watch the video tutorial for the instructions of IceLiners.

More safety with a fun factor

25-9-2014

A marketing campaign with a dancing traffic light to increase safety on the road. Last July, car manufacturer SMART in collaboration with BBDO Germany placed a unique system in a traffic light in a busy street in Lisbon. The traffic light looked normal at first, but before people started to get bored waiting for the green light, the red man in the traffic light started to dance. The dance moves of the red man were recorded by volunteers in a large installation. The action doesn’t only look great it also served a purpose: because pedestrians were entertained, 81% more people were waiting for the light to turn green.

In 2009 we’ve spotted a ‘Wiki Traffic Light‘ on the website The Fun Theory, where car drivers could answer ‘wiki’ questions while waiting during the red light. Increasing safety with a fun factor, an idea for your town?

Spectacular cocktails

25-9-2014

Serve your drinks in a spectacular way with the first dry ice machine JetChill. The patented technology of the JetChill machine converts liquid CO2 into dry ice which gives a smoking and bubbling effect to your drink. The machine has a charging time of only 10 seconds before the special glasses can be used. Pour your favorite drink into one of the glasses and immediately there will be a reaction. We’ve spotted spectacular cocktails made with dry ice before: in 2013 we saw the Mistystix that creates the smoking effect with a stick of dry ice.

A Bicycle friendly hotel…

24-9-2014

Don’t leave your bike outside but take it with you to your room; In Japan, the Hotel Cycle is established as part of the Onomichi U2 building. The Onomichi U2 is a former storage place that has been turned into a hospitality venue with a hotel, restaurant, café and bakery. The hotel is situated on the coast of Hiroshima what is a popular place for bicycle tourists with its beautiful landscape and city. Each room has a bike rack so guests can store their bike when they’re not using it. The whole building of Onomichi U2 is designed for bicycle users: it even has a Giant bike service shop.

Johnnie Walker presents: Symphony in Blue

24-9-2014

Whisky brand Johnnie Walker organized a two-day event ‘Symphony in Blue’ in London to promote the launch of their latest exclusive Blue Label Reserve premium whiskey blend. Johnnie Walker used experiential, content marketing to promote their new blend and to transform it into a luxury product. The ‘Symphony in Blue’ took place on 16 and 17 September and was an impressive journey of theatrical, musical and artistic events where the six different tastes from Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label were brought to live; fresh, fruity, malty, woody , spicy and smoky. There were several performances, glacier ice, burning barrels, a mist of whiskey and of course a tasting of the Blue Label blend. The behind-the-scenes video from the ‘Symphony in Blue’ gives a good impression of how a brand can present itself in a special way and what is involved in organizing such an event. How would you sell your restaurant or hotel if you had the opportunity to do it this way? Check out the website of ‘Symphony in Blue‘ for photographs of the event.

Ham Yard Hotel London

23-9-2014

The Firmdale Hotels are known for their eccentric British design with bright colors and a quirky sense of humor. Their new project, the Ham Yard Hotel, opened in the city centre of London, close to the Piccadilly Circus, in June. The hotel stands out for its striking design: the interior is a mash-up of colors, patterns, design motives and bold wallpaper. Especially the lobby has an inspiring interior with wool chairs, folk art and various types of lamps. The hotel has several playful public areas such as a bowling alley, a bar with a dance floor, a cinema and a rooftop terrace with olive trees and a vegetable garden. For inspiration, watch the video to get an impression. On the website of the Ham Yard Hotel are more pictures available.

Magic in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

23-9-2014

Yesterday, 22 September, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam launched yesterday a new marketing campaign. With the working title ‘magic’ the campaign shows the beauty of the collection and the beauty of the building. The campaign aims to show visitors that the Rijksmuseum is a place where people will be amazed and touched and where people love to be. A special aspect of the video is that it shows real people and true emotions. The music of the film is composed by violist Sietse van Gorkom and Sebastiaan Roestenburg of the Ambassadors especially for this movie. The composition was live recorded in the Passage of the Rijksmuseum.

Other viral marketing campaigns of museums that we have spotted over the years: an action of the Rijksmuseum where people could visit the museum via google in 2012 and a Street Museum app from the Museum of London in 2011.

JRE Streetdine

22-9-2014

Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe (JRE) organized a surprise campaign ‘JRE Streetdine’ on 13 September. All 28 Dutch restaurants affiliated with JRE went to unique locations and served culinary delights to passers-by. Some people were even invited to take place at a set table for a culinary flash lunch. Chairman Rik Jansma, of restaurant Basiliek in Harderwijk, hopes this initiative will encourage potential new guests to visit the restaurants. Check out the pictures for an impression of this ludic action.

read more

Gastronomy captured at Chefs®Evolution

22-9-2014

At this year’s Chefs®Evolution of Jonnie and Thérèse Boer all dishes of the chefs were photographed, captured and spread through the social media channel of apicbase.com. APIC is a solution for chefs who always want to photograph the development of their dishes without losing precious time in the kitchen. All images are quickly taken with the special device of APIC and are immediately send ‘to the cloud’ where the pictures are ready to use. Chefs can choose to keep the pictures for themselves or choose to give their guests the opportunity to post quality pictures on their social media channels as well. APIC is giving the control back to the chefs about what pictures are published online: no more blurry or incorrect photos online that doesn’t temp potential guests to visit the restaurant for dinner. Apicbase gives you an insight into which photos appear online. Check out the pictures, made by the APIC camera, for an impression of the dishes prepared at Chefs®Evolution.

In April 2014, we already wrote about a #dinnercam that was used at El Burro restaurant in South Africa.

Packaging design for beer

19-9-2014

A creative beer packaging design that shows the colour of the beer inside: Spanish creative agency Txaber developed a packaging design that combines the type of beer with the matching Pantone colour code. In this way you only have to look at the package to know what kind of beer is inside. For example, the package of a ‘lager’ beer has a golden colour with Pantone code 123C and a ‘stout’ beer has a dark brown colour and code 4975C.

Behind the packaging design

Txaber was born in 1969 in Bilbao and studied Graphic design at CVNP (Bilbao). He  is not only developing packaging design but is specialized in text and color design as well, as seen on his website. He quotes “They say everything is invented and I struggle every day to go against.”

Packaging-free supermarket

19-9-2014

Many initiatives are designed to make supermarkets more sustainable: we have spotted the first dump supermarket in Amsterdam, there is a supermarket chain in Denmark selling local products and we have seen how supermarkets work together with restaurants to reduce their waste.

Bay & Buy

Wim van Dijk hopes to open a new concept through crowdfunding: the first packaging-free supermarket in the Netherlands ‘Bag & Buy’. In this store customers can pick their own products from containers, barrels and jars and can thereby determine the amount they need.

International developments

A comparable initiative can be found in several countries. In Germany packaging-free supermarket ‘Original Unverpackt‘ was funded by crowdfunding as well. The starting capital for this supermarket was collected in one day. Earlier this year ‘Robuust, the zero waste shop’ opened its doors in Antwerp and in France, Spain and Austria are a packaging-free grocery stores as well.
The crowdfunding for the supermarket ‘Bag & Buy’ in the Netherlands starts on 1 October. The crowdfunders also determine the location of this store: “Bag & Buy will open where there is the must enthusiasm” as said by Wim van Dijk. The initiator thinks he will need € 100.000,- to open the grocery store.

The Future Hotel

18-9-2014

Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute IAO developed a ‘Future Hotel’ together with partners from the hotel and their supply industry. Via the video you get a brief impression of the future opportunities for a hotel room. Examples are a mobile check-in via a smartphone; round shapes in the hotel room; innovative communication systems, systems that are voice controlled; the fiber of the glass that could be adjusted from see through to non transparent; the ability to change the color of the room; taps with a light and temperature display and a whirlpool with a heated wall, by infrared. The hotel bed of the future (‘an energy-bed’) provides an electric motor for swing movements that makes guests fall asleep more easily and rise and shine the next morning.

We have seen more hotel rooms of the future, striking similarities are the round curves in architecture, the use of the smartphone and the tap and the possibilities of changing the color in the room. We didn’t see the ‘energy-bed’ before…

In February 2013, another future hotel room was presented at the Fiturtech, the International Tourism Trade Fair, in Madrid, that was called the ‘ITH Room Xperience’.

Restyling of restaurant Den Draeck in Utrecht

18-9-2014

Restaurant Den Draeck in Utrecht was recently restyled. Den Draeck is located in a 12th century cellar and is one of the hidden historical gems of the city Utrecht. The present and past of the location were brought together by combining a modern design with the ancient exterior: the walls were covered with old prints and photographs of the city and the old stones of the arches are brought at their best with new lightning and fresh colors. Watch the photos for an impression of the end result.

Bilder & De Clercq introduces interactive wall

17-9-2014

From 9 September the Bilder & De Clercq grocery store from Amsterdam introduced an interactive wall at the Google Office in Amsterdam. The grocery store weekly offers fourteen tasty, healthy and easy to prepare dishes with all the necessary ingredients in the right amount. YES.TAP makes it even more easy for consumers to order a meal: they only need their smartphone to touch a dish on a screen. The interactive wall was introduced as a response to the trend of online groceries ordering. Customers can order the fourteen dishes and other products via the Bilder & De Clercq Wall and via the app at home. If the order is send before 4 o’clock pm the cooled groceries can be picked up from 5 o’clock pm

More interactive walls? In 2011 we’ve already spotted  a virtual wall from supermarket chain Tesco in a subway station in South Korea.