Archive - Feb 2011
February 10th
Banks look for trustworthy middlemen
The Commerzbank is the first bank in Germany which offers a customer advisory board – the so called Kundenbeirat. Forty elected private and business customers of the bank are engaged to mediate between the bank and the needs of customers – with the aim to develop better customer service or to create more innovative products.
Why it matters
Many brands are already benefiting from customer sourced ideas and constructive criticism. Will such boards as the Kundenbeirat have enough consumer credibility to build on some of the trust that banks are striving for?
Personal billboards
Interactive digital billboard signs with cameras that are able to detect gender and age of people who walk by. The digital signage screens then displays advertising messages customized to the target person.
Why it matters
Waste circulation for mass media like billboards is still very high. How can this technology and others like it change the face of impersonal “massvertising”?
Source: www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=12672&sec=22
10. February 2011
Living colours
Until now, band aids and dressings had to be taken off regularly to ensure the wound had not become infected. All this could become obsolete with new plasters invented by the Fraunhofer Research Institute (EMFT). When a wound has become infected, the pH levels change and the new plaster indicates this by changing colors.
Why it matters
“Intelligent materials” are making our lives easier and the trend for autonomy in health shows no sign of stopping. How can brands innovate products so that they answer consumers ever growing need for control in their own health?
