The week in primary colors

Hungry?
Walk by a Keith Urban concert and you will be. Ticket holders enter his shows via a giant inflatable grill that pumps out BBQ chicken aroma-Kingsford charcoal and KC Masterpiece are sponsors. (source: Shopper Marketing, August 2009)

What are you doing with your life?
American Time Use Survey shows how people over 15 spent their time in 2008. Searchable by many criteria including time of day. Seems the more education you have, the more time you spend eating. Fascinating. http://www.nytimes.com//interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html?ref=business

Get inspired
Need a break from the August blahs? Speakers from Etsy to Method to Mini http://www.idea2009.com/

Order in the...wow, what a view
The position of magistrate judge for the US District Court in Yosemite National Park is open. $160K a year plus all the fresh air and jaw-dropping landscape you can stand. Misdemeanors only, like biking while intoxicated. Park felonies are tried in Fresno. The courthouse is located at the base of Yosemite Falls. The judge is allowed to live within the park. (source: NY Times, 8/10/09)

Belly up to the Coke bar
This free-standing dispenser lets soda-drinkers concoct their own flavor, with over 100 possible combinations. The data are relayed back to Coke, so they know what was popular and what time of day it was popular. The touch screen starts with the most common orders and lets you scroll down for something more exotic. Comes in red, black, and grey. (source: Shopper Marketing, August 2009)

Watch your rep
71% of Americans will avoid purchasing from companies whose social and environmental policies they find disagreeable. 48% will tell other people to stay away from those companies, too. (source: Mintel)

Predigested stationery
Sheep Poo Paper is paper made from, well, sheep poo. Apparently, ovines don't digest most of the cellulose they consume. So if you rinse it a lot, and beat the remains together with other castoffs like waste paper and textile off-cuts, then squeeze out the water...voila, artisan paper. Don't judge. They get to live in breathtaking rural Wales, and you don't. Pretty clever, huh? http://www.creativepaperwales.co.uk/how_made.asp (source: Fast Company, 8/10/09)

Moving a 19th century cereal into the 21st
Originally, Grape Nuts claimed to prevent malaria and appendicitis and to develop brain and nerves. In 1914 it moved on to curing constipation. Now, with less than 1% US share, it's pinned its hopes on virility. Not literally, of course, but in a "you're a 45+ male stuck driving a minivan and living with your mother-in-law, but you eat a tough-to-chew, manly cereal, so you're cool" kind of way. (source: Quirks, August 2009)

Whatcha gonna do when you get outta jail?
Unless you've got a lot of family support, you're most likely going right back. A big part of the problem is finding somebody willing to hire ex-cons. But that's Felony Franks' whole business model. The home of the "Misdemeanor Wiener," FF's is staffed by 10 former law breakers trying to make good. The owner hopes to turn his joint into a national chain of second chances. (source: Iconoculture)

Friend me forever
That's the tagline for a $5 million, federally supported campaign promoting marriage to 18- to 30-year-olds. (source: Christian Science Monitor, 8/10/09)

Meaty paradox
* 61% of American adults say they watch their food carefully and strive to be healthy. 66% are overweight or obese.
* Demand at food pantries is up 20% over last year. Donations are down 9%.
* Americans waste 27% of our available food, not including ready-to-eat meals available at supermarkets.
* Only 2% of food waste is composted.
In related marketing news, the UK government is considering a ban on fresh food BOGOs to reduce waste and associated carbon emissions.
(sources: Quirks, August 2009; CDC; NYTimes, 5/18/08; Ad Age, 8/11/09)

Zero waste by 2020
That's San Francisco's trash and recycling goal. One big step is their recently instituted tri-color residential sorting program. The only thing the instructions don't tell you is how to keep the wheely bins from rolling downhill. http://www.sfenvironment.org/

We'd better take care of Earth
‘Cause it's rough out there in the universe. Planet WASP-17b has had a hard life. Not only did something (probably) smack the giant world hard enough to get it rotating the wrong direction, but it's been squeezed and stretched so much by its own star's gravity that it only has the density of foam packing peanuts. (source: Christian Science Monitor, 8/13/09)

Play in style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0-J-HssYQA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUzb6JNtahA&NR=1

Quality is job one
New Toyota President Akio Toyoda "doesn't like figures," so he's swept aside his predecessor's goal of achieving 15% global share. Toyoda doesn't "feel comfortable upholding figures as our vision" and will instead refocus on quality over quantity, striving to grow by meeting customer needs instead of chasing numbers. How novel. (source: Automotive News, 8/10/09)

Help, OTCs are too confusing
A $4 square of biodegradable paper and corn-based plastic containing only what you need for your headache, allergies, etc, nothing more. No dies, minimal filler, no extraneous medicines. 5% of the profit helps people without health care get it. The guys behind Health Remedies wanted to offer a safer, simpler choice than big pharma or homeopathy. The packs are small so "people don't treat it like candy." Currently available at Target, drugstore.com, Virgin America airplanes, and http://www.helpineedhelp.com/ (source: Ad Age, 8/10/09)

Peanut butter, check
82% of grocery shoppers now write lists before they hit the aisles. 64% compare store ads. 46% shop several stores based on price. (source: Washington Post, 8/12/09)

JWT's new office in NYC
It's seriously groovy. The kind of place that makes outsiders think we don't really work. Yet the wise German woman in me can't help but worry about how much hair and lint is going to get static-stuck to all those squeaky vinyl couches and wonder how long it will be before the grassy walls turn into icky vertical dust mops. More photos and the architect's video http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/jwts-offices-designed-telling-tales-and-bs-ing-friends (source: Fast Company, 8/11/09)