I stumbled upon Cadbury’s Bicycle Factory site when I noticed a couple of friends (who I like and trust) had ‘liked’ it on Facebook. Cadbury has been on the do-good bandwagon since 2009 when they proclaimed themselves the world’s largest candy company to sell Fair Trade chocolate. This is the same year that the Bicycle Factory project began. The Bicycle Factory experience goes like this:
The necessary act of coming into virtual contact with a Cadbury product (like Halls, Trident Gum, Sour Peaches or Caramilk Bar) in order to help someone get a bike has “ick factor” all over it. It seemed to me that Cadbury had missed a critical opportunity to do something good without acting as a shill.
A little research quickly took me to the root of the problem. The Toronto agency who created the site in 2009 describes their work in the following manner:
The days of consumers caring about contests to win a car or a trip are over. These sorts of promotions are everywhere without saying anything about the sponsoring brand. The Bicycle Factory was designed to break through this sea of sameness and give consumers a cause they could relate to and rally behind.
In an attempt to “break through the sea of sameness” Cadbury has done much worse. They have taken the contest model and applied it to their corporate philanthropy efforts. To take this apart a bit, I’d like to explore why philanthropy is not like a contest.
I’m not saying that a company like Cadbury can’t do good by engaging their customers in something valuable like sending bikes to Ghana. In fact, I think it’s a great initiative at its core. But Cadbury needs to be a leader in engaging people on a deeper level than a promotions/contest approach can possibly encompass.
Design; the nature of this term is so abstract and so broad it’s almost impossible to truly define. In a sense, everything is designed. However, not everything is designed well. Many people don’t realize how design is so much more than just aesthetics. It encapsulates everything from how something feels, to how a person interacts with it. To truly understand design, is to understand human nature. The ability to analyze human interaction behaviour is important, because an inuitive experience usually ends with a positive result. The more an end user has to “figure out”, the more frustrated they will become.
Interaction design can occasionally feel like a thankless job, because a great user experience should be transparent in nature. As designers we should be striving to marry the priciples of a seamless experience with beautiful aesthetics. For example if you look at some of the best mobile applications in the world, they are a perfect blend of beautifully detailed interface elements, with a smooth and intuitive user experience. These aesthetics don’t compromise how one can interact with the app, but rather enhance it with key visuals and a unique style. The fact of the matter is, people are consciously and unconsciously enticed by visual design. However, if the tool is hard to use, it takes away from the experience.
A designers goal should never be to make something look nice. Designers solve problems, and they build products around solving these problems in the most effective manner possible. The aesthetics should be built around the interactions, because the interactions drive the product.
John S Lens, DC Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic
I saw Ron Artest start one of the biggest fights in NBA basketball history (Pistons/Pacers). Over his career, he’s sparked more than his fair share of come-backs and routs. And a few months ago I found out he’s not waiting around for world leaders to chart a path to world peace. Ron is single-handedly putting the idea in the heads of millions of people around the world, every night the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Franchise plays.
He changed his name to “Metta WorldPeace”.
Known as a frustrating defensive player to some and a hot-headed trouble maker to others, maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Artest is making something important happen without worrying about the consequences of failure/ridicule, or the hassles he causes to his employers.
I’ve seen the same ‘I’ll figure it out as I go because this project needs to exist’ mentality from luminaries on TED stages and from social innovators managing school gardens.
Our species is fucked if we deem our businesses ‘too big too fail’ but ‘world peace ‘too big to tackle’.
Apparently, this isn’t Artest’s first fresh idea either. He auctioned off his 2010 NBA championship ring for $500,000 to raise awareness for mental illness. Perhaps even more impactful, he publicly thanked his psychiatrist on national television. In a culture that still whispers about mental illness the way Rob Lowe’s family did about cancer in the hit ’80s movie “Class”, Ron’s mention is like shining a floodlight on the subject.
“The way it is” is a starting point, not an indictment. If more people tackled change in whatever capacity they were capable of, well the world would be a better place. Cities, communities and companies would too.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
–M. Mead
Apparently, the fishing’s pretty crappie at Brampton Lake near Kenora. According to Hook and Bullet if you chose to go fishing at Brampton Lake ”the crappie will be biting your maggots.”
As a marketer, I’m thinking that the Crappie fish needs a rebrand. Call me immature but I can’t help giggling when I read the following lines from websites about Crappie fishing:
- “Crappies are separated into two major subspecies: white and black crappie…The black crappie is easily confused with the white crappie.”World Fishing Network
- “Crappies are found in thousands of lakes and rivers across the country.” How Stuff Works
- “On average, a full-grown crappie will measure 10 inches (25 cm)” How Stuff Works
- “Crappies swim in schools, so when one finds them, there will be many more.” Freshwater Fishing Tips
Anyway, I’ve got a great new tourist slogan for Brampton Lake (since the internet seems to have very little to say about it) “If you’re up for some Crappie fishing you gotta get your ass over to Brampton Lake.”
No one is quite sure how Bob’s Lake got its name. It seems not many Bob’s passed through Frontenac region in Eastern Ontario in the mid Nineteenth Century. According to the book The Dammed Lakes, An Environmental History of Crow and Bobs Lakes the lake was named after the member of a native band–either Algonquin or Mississauga–who passed through the region. Here are a list of possible Bob candidates:
It may take some time before the mystery of Bob’s lake is resolved. But until then….baby steps
The Only Constant is Change- Heraclitus
Every day it becomes more evident that the socio-economic model we’ve been dependent on is cracking beneath our feet.
This animation by Cultivate demonstrates the importance of resilience in building new models by comparing it to surfing. It looks at the themes of personal and community resilience and facing global transition to reflect on how to best manage significant social shifts.
Just like surfers, agents of change have to act with courage, learn through experience and adapt quickly so they can make the most of the resources they have while going with the flow–especially in times of crisis.
Check it out!
Hello, hello! My name is Collin Henderson, and I’m a computer programming student at Niagara College, interning at Hypenotic. I specialize in web design, user experiences, and front-end development. After my internship here, I have one more semester of school before I graduate with a Computer Programmer Analyst diploma.
I’ve always been enamoured with all things on the web. I’ve been designing and developing websites for around five years now, and am always keen to learn the new and emerging technologies that come with it. During my days here at Hypenotic, I’m usually kept busy with a variety of work such as tweaking WordPress themes, developing responsive solutions for web pages, and trying to get the office puppy Blue, to like me. During evenings and weekends, I like to hack away at a plethora of different projects using fun tech like PHP, MySQL, Node.js, Socket.io, Objective-C, etc. I also love to play volleyball, and enjoy composing music of all sorts.
I look forward to continuing to work with this great team, here at Hypenotic. I’m sure I’ll learn a ton while I’m here, and hopefully have the opportunity to share some of my own skills with others.