Marketing News - Unilever Chief.

This should be interesting: The new Unilever chief. He's ex-P&G! It'd be a shame if the two cultures average out - they're different. 

Read more about it at the Brandgym blog. 

A Brief History of Japanese Design

Interesting link, this. It's a TIME magazine photo-gallery which charts a brief history of Japanese design. The entire list can serve as a set of case studies about innovation and/or outstanding marketing, in it's time. It's also a history of Japanese marketing. Apart from being good examples of design, needless to say.

The list, transcribed here,

1. The Sony TR-63 transistor radio, 1957
2. The Toyota Corolla, 1966
3. Hello Kitty, 1974,
4. Sony's Walkman, (or Soundabout), 1979
5. Nintendo Super-Mario Brothers, 1985
6. Issey Miyake in the 1990's
7. Tadao Ando's pavillion at the World Expo in Seville, 1992
8. The Toyota Prius, 2001
9. Hayao Miyazake's films, especially Spirited Away, 2001
10. Tatsuya Matsui's Palette, 2005
11. The Orochi

I'm disappointed that the Nintendo Wii is not in it, I'd put it as among the best of the lot. Nevertheless, it's a must-see for anyone interested in the history of innovation, marketing or design.

Link to Photoessay.

- B

Simplicity in Packaging

Awesome reductionist packaging from Japan (where else?) - Tofu in balloons!

Tofu packed into balloons, by Kamakura-komachi?! Surprisingly a great example for reduced packaging: Its elastic material is extensively stretched, and when pierced with a toothpick, the balloon bursts and only a tiny bit remains. How amazing! REDUCE with more flexibility! The same packaging concept is also applied to a pudding – to be seen here.

Read the rest of the post on pingmag to see some more examples of good packaging. Some brilliant innovative thinking here.

Via Boing Boing.

-B