Have a heart......attack

Many of us work to promote services, or trying to convey a sense of what isn't necessarily a tangible product.  The difficulty in that lies with the fact that there isn't a great beauty shot to promote, perhaps it is an experience like education that you can't guarantee an identical experience for each of our customers. So, how to go about getting their attention, and making them feel your message.

The British Heart Foundation found a quite interesting way. Traditionally, we have seen the heart attack warning commercials, talking about people who have had an attack and their love for life and thankfulness for the care they received....happy, happy, warm and fuzzy. But the British took a bit of a different approach. And, while I typically don't praise behavior that uses fear and intimidation to relay the message, for some reason, I think this might have been the most effective way to reach their target. While I may be inclined to tear up to the happy, happy warm and fuzzy, I am not your typical heart attack candidate.

So who are their target? Do you know a man in his 50s who perhaps isn't so in tune with his health, and shutters at the thought of an ongoing relationship with his doctor? If so, perhaps this is the approach to try....the heart attack simulator.

What do you think? Get the message across? I think it probably did, and the style and message of the video, perhaps in the style and sense that most of their target might relate to, might not be compelled to grab the remote and start their 2 minute, 2 second surfing marathon.

Know you audience, know what message might speak to them. It won't likely be the same the speaks to you. In fact, it might just scare the bejeebers out of you.

Building blocks of tomorrow?

While I am still trying to get my head around this product, Litracon is a light transmitting concrete. While not a lightsource, it transmits light though its structure to produce fabulously sharp shadows.

In action this is what the substance looks like:

But in the absence of the rear-lit light source, it looks like this:

Developed in Hungary, the possibilities for this material are endless. Immediately I thought of office walls built with the material, to create separation, but allow light to flow from office to office. From an artistic standpoint, it lends it self to an interesting and unique canvas. And perhaps some interesting inter-office communication.

What will they think of next?

Changing the rules

When I first came across this site , I was intrigued, but the more and more I think of it, the more it opens up possibilities for me in my mind. I have always imagined a day where you could change the color of the walls in a room, just by flipping a switch, and while this isn't quite there, I find it perhaps even more intriguing.

The effect in the image is quite beautiful, while the light feels a bit cool, the ambient glow is quite lovely. Energy efficiency, hard to say.

But it brings me to another thought, manufacturers are working to make products better, with better aesthetics, and Apple rocks in that area, but what about finding a way to take a product and implant it, or marry it within something already in the room, or the room itself?

Can your picture window double as a TV screen? Can your favorite piece of artwork or painting double as a DVD player?  Could the blessed 8 pound walleye mounted on the wall be an antenna, or wireless router?

It's about dreaming, and imagining the possibilities...