Biometrics in the Tanning Salon?

The days of passwords, ID cards, and keys are becoming numbered because of the growth of biometrics. Biometrics authentication, as a definition, is used to define all methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more basic physical or behavioral traits. Last year I did some research on the growing number of business that are relying on biometrics measures rather than traditional forms.

The information that is collected from biometrics can be composed through facial recognition, fingerprint analysis, iris scans, and voice recognition. These methods are chosen because each humans face, voice, iris, fingerprint, and DNA is obviously distinctive. While doing this research, the only example that I had seen in real life was the IRIS scan that they had in major airports, specifically Heathrow.

What's interesting is that I went to the tanning salon this week, which I do about once every 5 years, and they had a biometric system in place. They took a fingerprint scan, which held all of your account, credit card, and purchase details. So, every time I walk into the salon, I place my finger on the pad, and the details about which bed I was in, how long I was there and who I am, all pop up on one screen. What is most bizarre to me is that the second place that I've seen this behind major international airports is the tanning salon.

This new age of biometric technology indicates that access to private files, bank accounts, medical records, security codes, and secure areas will no longer be protected by passwords, keys, and ID cards, instead fingerprints, iris, or any other method of biometrics will be used for identification. Some aspects of this makes me a bit nervous, especially in terms of privacy, but at the same time, it is also quite fascinating technology. I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly this type of technology is adopted.

Kraft's New Mac & Cheese

I saw this commercial the other day on tv, and thought it was a brilliant ad. Not only is this a creative way to introduce a new Kraft product, but it's also a clever way of reminding consumers that they have two target audiences: kids, and adults.

The ad does a good job in pointing out the exact concerns that were probably raised when first looking to launch this product, including: packaging, target audience, methods of being cooked, etc. The girl is darling in letting "Kraft Corporation" know that she's onto them, and that she won't be left behind as a loyal customersimultaneously reminding mom's why kids love the regular mac & cheese with the mention of Cheezosaurus Rex. Good work Kraft - you've got a great ad to launch your new baked mac & cheese.

The Groupon Phenomenon

Early last year I was interviewing with a company that did research on people who played games that were connected to Facebook. Many of these games required users to take quizzes which questioned their demographics (sex, age, location, etc.) From this information, the marketing research company would then sell this information to a company that works with local companies in respective cities to give deals to people in the area. Thus, the coupon, or the 'Groupon Phenomenon', has been re-born and re-defined in the social media world - spurring impulse purchases.

How many times have you purchased deals on yoga classes? or restaurants? or skydiving lessons? Every morning my inbox is crammed with new sites that are offering deals in my area. Some of the common ones are Groupon, Living Social, Homerun, and now Yelp is starting to offer deals also. Because these deals are only offered for one day, there's a sense of psychological urgency to 'get the deal before it's gone', albeit they are good deals. The fact that many consumers are price-conscious due to the economy is an additional benefit to these daily deal sites.

In terms of customer retention, I'm not sure how well it works. Speaking from personal experience, I have only ever redeemed one of my purchases. But, what an interesting way to look at product marketing and consumer behavior.

Google Enters the Offshore Wind Power Business

Google announced that it would begin investing in offshore wind power, called the Atlantic Wind Connection - a move that displays a deviation from their primary search engine business. Although Google did not disclose how much the project would cost, The New York Times reported an agreement which projected $5 billion.

Google will be joining forces with two companies, Good Energies and Marubeni Corporation, to help finance the project, which is aiming to lay down 350 miles of underwater cables (from Virginia to New Jersey) to transport the energy created from wind farms to cities in the US. It is projected to provide power to 1.9 millions homes. The main company leading the venture is Trans-Elect. Supposedly, Google will be investing in 37.5% equity for the initial development of this Atlantic Wind Connection.

This, however, is not the only move that Google has made in other businesses. Also last week, Google announced that it was testing cars that drove themselves. It's interesting to see Google's vested interest in green technology. I suppose part of it is good PR - being socially responsible is never a bad thing, especially in today's economy. My other feeling is that Google has an extraordinary amount of data centers, and this could ensure that there would always be a power supply to any data centers. Moreover, if you look at where Google is physically located around the world, they have situated themselves near large bodies of water. While these might not be obvious to the average Joe, it makes me think that Google is truly a forward-thinking company that realizes that there will be problems with water scarcity, sources of energy, and other resources.

Food Insecurity in Developing Nations

One of the projects I worked on this semester has been focusing on a global trend. Our group chose to focus on food insecurity in developing nations. To shed light on the current situation, it is necessary to look at contributing factors. First off, food prices are estimated to have risen by 80 percent over the past three years. For example, some staple crops such as rice have tripled in price in just the last 2 years. Food production costs have also increased, which has been affected by the volatile price of oil. Because of this, an estimated 75-100 million additional people have been pushed into poverty and food insecurity as a direct result of the crisis. Ironically, agriculture is the largest source of employment in developing nations.

Additionally, agriculture receives only 4 percent of U.S. foreign assistance, while most developing countries are also only allocating 4 percent of their budgets to the agriculture sector. Increased food prices with little aid ultimately results in the threat that those who need food most will not have it. The health implications on these societies are larger than simply missing a meal - it implies long term health problems which will cut many lives short.

The company that we decided to focus on was ACDI/VOCA. ACDI/VOCA uses value chains, specifically value chain analysis, to understand private sector development in emerging economy settings to jumpstart economic growth and poverty reduction. ACDI/VOCA's value chain approach is unique in that it uses a participatory, stakeholder-driven approach to exploit opportunities for investment and growth in industries with high levels of micro and small enterprise (MSE) involvement.

Today the organization is known for its value chain approaches to enterprise development, self-sustaining financial services development, farmer organization, self-help community development and projects that work to stabilize fragile economies. This will inevitably include poking into their other programs such as agribusiness and financial services, but our focus will remain on the overarching trend of food security and food scarcity.

You can find more information on our site.

Gap's Brand Snafu

If it wasn't a double dip in the economy, I knew that there had to be some sort of catastrophe for 2010. Although they kept us waiting until October for this crisis, Gap has brilliantly decided to unveil their new slick logo and ditch their iconic one. Not to my surprise there has been huge outrage regarding the change in the online community.

Gap responded quickly to the outrage with the following response:

Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.

Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.

It's interesting, but not surprising, to see the vast amount of brand loyalty behind Gap. Hansen, the CEO, was trying to symbolically show that they company was looking to move forward and have a more contemporary feel, but one can only remember the Coca-Cola and Tropicana re-brand disasters. The benefit of this exercise, however, is that it reaffirms the passion and value behind the old logo, without ever having to change anything about their actual products. Plus, the fact that they have listened to their customers and gained free publicity shouldn't hurt either.

Thank goodness you reverted to your old logo, Gap. We thought we had lost you for a minute as one of our true American brands, and America really can't afford any more loses in 2010.