France to Create Network of Electric Car Charging Stations

The French government announced last week that they would dedicate $2,2 billion dollars towards creating a large network of charging stations for electric vehicles. This new initiative will also require all parking lots to contain battery charging stations by 2015, and all new apartment buildings with parking lots to have them by 2012.

Source: PSFK

PICNIC Amsterdam 09

Random acts of kindness are almost always met with a warm reception, whether they're motivated by a game, a hotel's philosophy or the premise behind a clothing brand. Now aiming to make such acts more frequent, New York-based KIND Snacks has launched an effort to use cards to remind people to be kind.

KIND is an award-winning brand of Australian-made all-natural fruit and nut bars from PeaceWorks, a “not-only-for-profit” healthy foods company that hand-produces its bars. Kicked off by the KIND team, the KINDED movement aims to encourage people to surprise others with unexpected kind acts. Those interested can start by getting a card via instructions on the KINDED website. Next, they perform some kind act for someone else, whether it's helping them carry heavy bags, sharing an umbrella or paying for their coffee. When they do, they simply pass on their card to the recipient of their generosity; that person, in turn, can pass it along by doing something kind for someone else. Perhaps most interesting of all, however—particularly in light of what our sister site would call the OFF=ON trend—is that each card that gets passed along has a unique code that can be mapped online, enabling participants to track how far their chain of kindness travels and view kind acts happening around the world.

The KINDED website explains: "KINDED cards are meant to help overcome the social awkwardness of doing unexpected kind acts by serving a 'license' to do the act, and explaining why you are doing it. So, when that person at Starbucks hands you a KINDED card along with [a] coffee, you'll feel comfortable accepting since they're just passing on a kind act that was done for them." More than 700 "KINDINGS" have been performed so far; as extra motivation, the card code with the longest chain of such kind acts by Jan. 29 will win those involved a chance to get a real wish fulfilled.

So many brands over the years have been associated with self-indulgence, with ego gratification and—yes—with downright greed. In this era of widespread consumer disgust with the corporate world, there's never been a better time to focus on the kind!

Website: www.kinded.com

New iPhone app

Too much choice, too little time—it's a constant theme of the information age. There are 60,000 apps available for the iPhone, but the benefits of using personally relevant apps can almost be negated by the amount of time it takes to discover them. 16apps is a new web service designed to streamline the process. The service scours users' Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or LastFM accounts for information about their hobbies, interests, lifestyle, character and location. It then uses the data to make personalised app recommendations. For instance, if it detects messages or links on a user's profile related to politics, it may recommend an app like "Political Tweets"; if it finds swear words, it has been known to recommend "Rude Ringtones".

Although the functionality of the app has had a mixed reception among the social media crowd, the value in the concept is clear. As consumers experience an explosion of choice in more and more areas of life, recommendation engines are becoming indispensable tools. What makes 16apps particularly interesting is that it doesn't require previous interaction with users in order to discover what they (are) like, since it makes use of openly available data that they've already shared, painting a full picture of their 'digital personality'. It creates an interesting challenge for brands: how to mine the data in a relevant way, without being intrusive or spammy.

Website: www.16apps.com

theblogpaper: The UK’s First User Generated Newspaper

With the long anticipated demise of one of London’s premier free newspapers (thelondonpaper) changing the landscape of how commuting Londoners are consuming printed media, (the capital’s other free newspapers, the London Lite and the Metro, do remain) there has been a perceived opening in the market for other fresher publications to fill the void of the fallen tabloid monolith. And so steps forward theblogpaper, the UK’s first user generated newspaper.

The paper was born from theblogpaper site – a conceptualised online space that allows for users to submit articles and photographs to have them discussed, commented on and potentially printed in what is now a weekly publication. Handed out by polite young chaps at train stations across the capital, theblogpaper effectively combines the mediums of print and digital to create a balance between who controls the media by shifting power from ‘the few’, and then by returning it to ‘the many’.

Free papers such as thelondonpaper have found particular affection amongst the capital’s young commuters, and are the cornerstone of many young Londoner’s print media dietary habits. Quite commonly these papers are the only that they would read day in day out. theblogpaper is an excellent example of how to engage this audience without being overly intrusive as, from Design to Politics to Technology, the paper is a vibrant, young and fresh take on journalism.

An excellent example of the influence of user generated content, theblogpaper continues to grow as questions over the move of taking the blog to the press demonstrates the influence of online journalism in the new age.

Source PSFK

Publicis Worldwide, the global communications group, has launched a new division which will focus on producing "branded entertainment solutions"

Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the private equity firm, has previously predicted that "alternative marketing services", a category which includes branded entertainment, will see revenues grow by 12.6% each year from 2008 to 2013 in the US.
Publicis estimates this sector was worth a total of $24.97 billion (€16.9bn; £15.7bn) in America alone last year, up by 12% on an annual basis, making the country a key market for its new venture,PublicisEntertainment.
As well as dealing with all aspects of the production process from commissioning to transmission, Publicis Entertainment's remit will cover digital and web TV, games, mobile, social networks and films.
Its activity will further extend to driving revenues through exploiting intellectual property, selling related advertising and sponsorship, and securing distribution and syndication deals.
The network will be headquartered in London, and is expected to be rolled out across a number of other major markets in the near future.
Richard Pinder, coo of Publicis Worldwide, said "the relationship between advertising and television production is changing fast: it is now a relationship of equals."
Pinder also argued the company has been "getting more and more interest from clients" in this area, making this "the right business at the right time."
"The three-minute program is slowly joining the 30-second spot as an industry benchmark," he added.
Publicis Entertainment will be led by Marcus Vinton, formerly executive creative director of Ogilvy London, who suggested this channel offers a unique opportunity for marketers.
"Media barter deals and sponsorship will of course continue to help brands shepherd and associate themselves 'around' great television, but by working together we now have the opportunity to communicate directly 'through' great television," he said.
According to a statement, Publicis Entertainment is already working "on a number of major branded content projects with Publicis Worldwide clients", and with production companies including RDF,All3Media, Fremantle and Endemol.

Source WARC

Fashion

Now in beta, Stockholm-based Looklet offers a selection of seven models—each with various facial expressions—38 backdrops and almost 2,000 items of clothing and accessories that can be combined to try out new looks and combinations. All the clothes items are actual, existing pieces selected by stylists from real designers; users need only drag and drop them onto the model of their choice to create their own personal look, which is viewable from multiple perspectives. Once they've created a style they like, they can save it and share it with other users of the site as well as with friends on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. Some 76,000 users have already created more than 600,000 outfits on Looklet, all browsable, searchable and available for remixing.

There's no doubt both Looklet and competitor Polyvore offer the opportunity for fashion brands to engage with their target audiences in a much more compelling way than traditional advertising ever could. While Polyvore provides e-commerce links to enable shopping, however, Looklet currently does not, instead simply providing general links to the designers' sites. Seems to us users will eventually want to convert their dream creations into reality—one to partner with on the e-shopping end to help make that possible? (Related: Fashion blog is street version of shopping mags.)

Website: www.looklet.com