This article written by Paul Gardner, Chairman of Grey Group in Australia, was first published in AdNews on 15 August 2011.

We live in uncertain times … and I’m not just talking about Wall Street. I’m also talking about Main Street and, even, ‘Domain’ Street.

And while the latest financial ‘bear market’ is hardly new news, this latest financial crisis has come with a few new twists which will ensure profound implications on consumer sentiment and spending.

Let’s start with the obvious…European nations’ wealth is crumbling and America’s debt is almost incomprehensible (think 10 to the power of 12!), the equivalent of more than a million dollars a day … since Jesus was born!

Is it a temporary hiccup? Or are we witnessing yet another industrial superpower consign itself to history? Will the US follow the 20th Century demise of Japan and USSR and move more towards commercial irrelevance in a new century defined by the Asian Tigers and their seemingly insatiable appetite for growth (and Australian minerals, fortunately)?

On top of this, we are witnessing amazing scenes of popular uprisings which have roots in the Middle East, noticeably Syria, Egypt and Libya. But it has now spread as far as the UK. It appears that in such uncertain times, the ‘people are revolting’ and demanding stronger leadership with more action and less spin.

They are uncertain about the future and what might happen. They are demanding that someone takes control and leads the way. They are figuratively and, perhaps, literally re-storming the Bastille.

And such sentiment is not just restricted to our political leaders…every brand and business needs to reprove itself and show its relevancy to a community and client base concerned about their future. Will riots in the streets ever manifest themselves into a more silent but just as effective protest in a supermarket? Time will tell … but don’t be surprised if a premium name and price doesn’t command the type of respect and loyalty it once did.

Of course a great deal of blame needs to be fairly laid at the feet of that annoying, pesky, brash teenager…the internet!

Despite the fact that if the internet was a person, it would be too young to drive (well, not without L-plates and a parent on board), the digital revolution is effectively tearing down the way of the old with gay abandon and little acknowledgement to past loyalties and sensitivities.

Let’s briefly consider a few of the more interesting developments that these times have thrown up for consumers and how we communicate with them.

Seemingly caught up in a web of endless sales, constant bickering, strengthening dollars and spiralling rent, on-line sales are destroying traditional retailers as effectively as the looters and vandals currently rioting through London streets.

For some time now, I have put forward the proposition that if your product isn’t perishable and can fit into a box or envelope, you may as well close your store now and save further anguish. And I can see no sign of it abating.

Today’s solution is no longer about a store with an on-line presence…every retailer simply has to become a genuine on-line store with a possible (smaller) physical presence. And they need to do it now!

Bear in mind that the NBN has only just started to roll out in mainland Australia (assuming Brunswick still considers itself such); that nearly half the phones sold in Australia are ‘smart’ meaning we’re carrying the internet with us everywhere we go; that apps have become the new fashion accessory; and that mobile phones will outsell computers this year…makes you wonder exactly what type of store and shopping centre destination will actually survive.

And then there’s how we need to communicate…

Whilst television (FTA and cable) shows no real sign of decline and the radio industry talks up digital as its next iteration and reinvention, the start of the communication show must surely be ‘social media’.

Whilst msn messenger seemed to leave the building with Mario Bros, our days are now full of accepting invitations on Linked-in, branching out into Branched Out, updating Facebok and Tweeting … and let’s not even count email!

I once saw it written that email would be the next casualty of the digital revolution as we continue the migration to Facebook (or whatever its successor will be called).

Today, you need a fine balance of traditional above-the-line media, a strong and pinpointed social media presence and a smattering of new ‘trialists’ to not only reach consumers, but to genuinely motivate them and prove your worth as a modern business with a justifiable premium price and brand.

Or you could just sit back and wait for your superannuation funds to return to a figure we’d be happy to retire on.

Paul Gardner
Chairman, Grey Group

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We wouldn’t say this is as revolutionary as personal computing… but it’s pretty darn close.

Just as Microsoft and Apple brought one computer to every household in the 1990s, Bre Pettis’s Makerbot Industries is now bringing 3D printing to the masses.

If you think that any object can be sliced into hundreds of thin horizontal planes, 3D printers construct physical objects by depositing layers successively on top of each another. Companies have used the technology since the 1980s to rapidly prototype new products in development. This year, Makerbot Industries started selling personal 3D printers for just $1,299.

Think about it. For the price of a MacBook Pro, you can “print” a physical, 3D version of any object, smaller than a bowling ball, from the comfort of your home. This is absolutely incredible. Break the handle of your hammer? No need to go to the store to buy a new one – just download a 3D rendering of the file from the internet and print a new one. Need a new nozzle for your hose? Print one.

And the technology can be used to print out many parts that fit together – check out this Rubik’s cube for the blind, printing instructions available as a free download on Makerbot’s sister website, Thingiverse.

Makerbots aren’t being used for much more than printing shower curtain rings at the moment, but the possibilities are almost endless.

Ideas with the ability to capture the imagination are ripe for exponential growth. 3D printers that print in glass and silver already exist. The next generations of this technology should be able to print a greater variety of materials in less time at less cost. Imagine a 3D printer capable of printing circuit boards. Break that remote control? Print a new one. Want a new phone? Download and print.

This is one of the most compellingly inevitable technological progressions we have seen in ages—so we’d bet on mass adoption in the next few years.

We love how the agency stepped outside what we tend to think of as “traditional advertising.” This is more than just an ad. It is a business solution to a business problem that hits the mark strategically, tactically, and creatively. Here, the agency actually created a new sales channel for its client by thinking creatively about emerging technology and consumer behavior.

More than making us smirk or think of a brand in a new way (as good advertising should), Tesco’s subway supermarket actually solves a problem in our lives – a problem we might not have been aware of before seeing the solution (as Steve Jobs said, “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want”). It is something truly new and truly interactive, and therefore truly memorable. It delights by surpassing my expectations of what a product in this category (supermarkets) is meant to deliver on, and it makes us think that Tesco really cares about making their customers’ shopping experience better.

We think we will start seeing more and more work like this come out of ad agencies. Just as people are better judged by what they do than by what they say they do, advertising that delivers on a brand promise in and of itself is more effective than advertising that simply relays a brand promise creatively. Importantly, seismic shifts in the way consumers interact with media are now allowing marketers to create unique and engaging experiences – like this one – that stand above advertising in print or on television.

It is the agencies that can think creatively at the intersection of technology, strategy, and consumer behavior, and who aren’t afraid to develop products for their clients, that are best able to produce groundbreakingly effective work today.

But the science behind it is actually pretty cool. In outer space, two things happen that alter the experience of drinking a beer.

First, things taste differently in space than they do on earth. Astronauts since the first Apollo missions have complained that food tastes blander in space than it does on earth. Though scientists are undecided on the cause of this, evidence points to the idea that it may have something to do with taste buds expanding slightly at microgravity.

Second, gasses and liquids separate differently in the stomach than they do on earth. As NASA’s Shuttle and ISS Food Systems Manager, Vickie Kloeris, said:

Not only is carbonation difficult in microgravity, it causes you to burp. On earth, that’s not such a big deal, but in microgravity it’s just gross! Because there is no gravity, the contents of your stomach float and tend to stay at the top of your stomach, under the rib cage and close to the valve at the top of your stomach. Because this valve isn’t a complete closure (just a muscle that works with gravity), if you burp, it becomes a wet burp from the contents in your stomach. I’ve been told this is NOT pleasant!

So… to free future space tourists from space bars filled with floating, regurgitated bubbles of mediocre beer, 4 Pines brewed a stout specially crafted for enjoyment in orbit.

Here’s a video of Jaron Mitchell of 4 Pines Brewery, explaining some of this on ‘Today’ to Karl Stefonovic. Nice work guys!

Some people design bridges, space shuttles, mechanical hearts and social networking sites.

Not I. I designed a letterbox.

After seeing the neglect many letterboxes are subjected to I wanted to design one that not only withstood the harsh Australian climate and reckless mailmen (and women), but was also a beautiful object deserving of pride of place on people’s street frontage. A collaboration with Aussie designers DesignByThem, ‘TomTom’ is sold through top3 by design.

I love the simplicity of Flipbook – and I love what it does.  Check it out and download it if you haven’t got it. And the new version is even better.  Check out some PR of the new version here