Allis Collective

The below will be an evergrowing list over the next six months. Some may say these words/phrases have already become tired, I would suggest that they may take on new meanings or approach mainstream.  I welcome comments and additions.

“Now that the dust has settled.” An anti-recessionary message for economic growth in 2010. A derivative of this burgeoning optimism is currently [...]

When digging deeper into your core demographics, often you find surprises of ways that connect them outside of “male/24-34/tech spirited/golfer, father, entrepreneur.” Taking the time to study the individuals, say through an ethnography, may reveal other threads that tie your audience. Perhaps they are also all Trekkies? CNET gives the top 7 sites where you [...]

Over the weekend, Dell launched a female-targeted microsite called Della - primarily focusing on the exploding netbook market. Through visual and behavioral language, the site was created to appeal solely to women and is yet another attempt to capture this influential gender using a more mass-relatable approach than the Adamo by Dell. Below are my thoughts on its [...]

I’m typically an early adopter, or at least on the early part of the curve, but I also am a highly tactile, visual learner/thinker. Perhaps this is why I have yet to buy a Kindle. I do know once I use one, that I’ll likely become addicted, a tech trait I covet. But the smell [...]

I prefer to not blog about people who blog. I fear that journalistic authenticity or insight deteriorates in quality like making a copy of a faxed copy. 
Although, I came across this image today and found it an incredibly over-simplified yet a refreshingly simplistic view of cultural trends.

When is haggling appropriate? At car dealerships, tourist traps, and perhaps with your cable provider. But, haggling is becoming more and more common with retailers suffering. A writer from the New York Times had one such experience at Best Buy this weekend. He was able to negotiate down his 42″ LG Plasma and also include a [...]

When speaking of luxury, one typically thinks of Prada, BMW, or perhaps Eames. When speaking of technology, does “luxury” come into play? Typically not, says Tim Herbert, senior director market research for CEA (Consumer Electronics Association).
One difference between CE and other markets like jewelry is CE products are considered more necessity than luxury in many [...]

A harmonious marriage was released today, Skype has finally launched on the iPhone. The free app will be available shortly on ITunes making it easy to see your loved ones and business types while going about your daily life (barring you are close to a Wi-Fi source as the video capability won’t work over your [...]

Yesterday, Nokia released images of the fully-functioning song-inspired winners of the Nokia Music Almighty Headset Competition - an ingenious idea developed by Wieden + Kennedy London. The competition began last year, in which 6,000+ entrants crafted their Nokia Bluetooth headset around inspiring songs such as Daft Punk Robot Rock or Kelis Milkshake (one looking almost [...]

While flipping through the pages of Fast Company’s April 2009 issue, this clip to the left caught my eye. The Zikmu, by Parrot looks like two big trumpets with a small ipod on the top. The cool look made me dig further to find a product launch flash site and an inspiring video from Philippe Starck himself. 
As [...]

I flew Virgin America over the weekend, my airline of choice. I will spend just a little extra to use the simple kiosks stands equipped with orchids, sit at the gate as Coldplay fills the air and walk onto the plane where the purple glow feels cozy and comforting. I always sit down in my seat, excitedly [...]

As mentioned in my blog on March 11th, Cisco has squelched the rumor of acquiring Pure Digital Technologies, the makers of the ever-so-simple Flip Video mini camcorder, by publicly announcing the $590 million agreement. Cisco used this announcement to also address their commitment to the consumer electronics space and plan to become a house-hold name [...]

Last year, Philips released a series of LCD TVs called the “Design Collection.” With similar strategies as outlined in my Adamo blog, the brand wanted to further appeal to the females whose CE influence and purchase power would strengthen their position in the evolving technology market. According to Philips’ research, 98 percent of women consider [...]

As the iPhone OS 3.0 will no doubt steal the blogosphere today, I thought it important to give some well deserved credit to the other white meat - the new PC debut, Adamo by Dell. There has been great anticipation to the official release and finally they are available today.
The Adamo, latin for “to fall in [...]

As the ultimate homage to fashion meets technology, the Japanese Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology unveiled a ‘fashion model robot‘ today. She is 5′ tall, 95 lbs, can speak, express emotions and walk with grace. She will hit the catwalk in Tokyo on March 23rd and likely many tradeshow floors shortly thereafter.

While the fascination with robots [...]

There are many facts supporting female’s power over purchases made in every B2C sector. Although, most of these studies don’t further segment women into those who drive the female consumer to make these choices. Just as in any other demographic segmentation there are those who influence and those who are influenced.
The strategic challenge becomes highly-complex [...]

Simple and direct has replaced complex and obscure.
Example: Flip sales figures and acquisition rumors this week.
Function and ease-of-use marry exclusivity and fashion.
Example: Fergie promoting HP usability. 
Reliability and convergence usurp bleeding edge.
Example: Engadget’s nod to Nokia for exploring the next big trend.
Consumer retention outweighs acquisition.
Example: Kodak’s new upsell technology released at PMA.
Insightful innovation leads ubiquitous invention.
Example: Intuitiveness of the [...]

If you missed Engadget Editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, you didn’t miss much. Their energized tête-à-tête at CES didn’t carry over to national television, it became a lovefest over the not-yet-available Palm Pre. As this type of mainstreaming of technology fascination becomes a staple on talk TV, it will be a creative challenge to bring the [...]

For all those who attended CES early this year, you may have noticed a celebrity comedian roaming the aisles - Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Fallon and Engadget editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky, put on a funny impromptu review discussing the PalmPre and the “not netbook, ultra-portable, coat pocket-fitting” Sony Vaio P. 

Obviously, this duo hit it off and Jimmy has [...]

While working with consumer electronics brands, I’ve come upon varying degrees of sophistication in retail strategies. Many believe proposing endcap ideas and featured areas in retail environments is a great “added value,” but a luxury, not a necessity. Times have changed or more specifically, marketing channels need to be reprioritized.
A new study released today from [...]

I experienced technology fear yesterday. Not personally, but genetically - my mother was looking up someone’s name in …. THE WHITE PAGES. Her fingers were doing the walking. I don’t know the last time I opened a big clunky phone book, put my fingers on the page thus smearing the ink, and squinted my eyes [...]

In an article by Caroline Winnett, Chief Marketing Officer, NeuroFocus titled “Gender and Marketing: The Female Brain,” Ms. Winnett articulates the results from NeuroFocus’s research on how marketing to women is different than marketing to men on a neurological level. This science, used by some of the top consumer packaging brands such as Frito-Lay, measures brainwaves, eye-tracking and [...]

The eco-trendy trendwatching.com March 2009 Brief was released today over my eco-Apple which sits by my eco-java in my eco-office with my eco-ant problem. The trendwatchers have been busy creating eco-lingo to coin consumer behavior. With the study from Reuters asserting that 82% of consumers buy green despite the battered economy, green practices and claims have [...]

The Nielsen Company released an article today by Mitch Barnes, president of their Greater China division that asks the important question, “Should we continue to invest in innovation or should we save our money [during tough economic times]?” Certainly, a question on the minds of consumer electronics companies.
Nielsen studied recessionary times in a variety of markets [...]

I watched the “Beat the BS” video yesterday for the Nike Women Gamechangers campaign which highlights historical gender stereotypes that have prevented equality for women in sports over the years. What’s meant to be an over-the-top satirical video about the fragility and naivety of women left me irritated.  
Mind you, not irritated about the “male-dominated” world women [...]

In watching un-DVRed, prime-time TV last night (a rarity), I saw my first spot for the Verizon Hub. I know it’s been out for awhile (almost a month), but I hadn’t yet seen their advertising. (As a side note, I couldn’t remember the URL at the end of the spot, so I typed in “Verizon [...]

I love leaving a brand experience and thinking “man, they’ve thought of everything.” In the last week, I’ve had two of those such moments. Even after repeat visits. Both in my SF backyard.
Benefit Cosmetics
Benefit is an international, mid-priced, ultra-girly cosmetic brand that serves up unique products like lip stain, face primer and complexion enhancers. They create cheeky [...]

Without giving up the magic of Allis, I want to share some subtle and overt ways to make a brand more female-targeted (which does not mean male-alienating) and allow CE companies to capitalize on the $80B spent by this consumer.

Branding:

Find a unique way to connect individually with a woman (Costco called 1M people that bought [...]

As a brand specialist in consumer electronics, almost every meeting I’m in with the CMO or VP of Sales they say “we’re in the technology business, so we should probably have a good website.” How many at the time of this statement have a good website? Almost zero.
But, the more important question is what is [...]

As a follow up to my Feb. 11th blog, Boomers the new gamers, a Nielsen’s study was released this week confirming the Wii’s pull to bring new estrogen-powered gamers into the market. The study also shows how segmented the gaming system market has become with Wii appealing to boys age 6-11 and women age 25-34, Xbox [...]