Branded utility is becoming a buzzword, but when the examples are this flawless, I can’t help but be impressed. According to Ad Age, Clear Channel Outdoor, which runs several self-service public bicycle rental programs in Europe, has brought the concept to Washington, DC. The initial rollout features a total of 120 bikes at 10 rental [...]

I’m a big fan of branded utility. So I ought to be impressed by this out of the box example from Krispy Kreme in the UK. We Heart Stuff describes the grass flip flops as an “ideal solution to those ’stuck-in-the-office-blues’ by offering stressed out city workers the chance to have that feeling of a [...]

Drew Neisser and Jonah Bloom, like most business travelers today, need to get their charge on. Bloom describes the scene: After about half an hour of staring at the space where a plane should’ve been, we’re granted the announcement we knew was coming: The 3:30 p.m. out of LAX is now the 4:50 p.m., which [...]

Adrian Ho at Zeus Jones is reflecting on leading firms like Google that “don’t really use advertising agencies and instead rely upon innovative business ideas to communicate their benefits and values to their customers.” Ho also mentions Alex Bogusky’s 2004 claim that “everything is an ad” and wonders how ad people are coping with that [...]

Increasingly, branded utility is the big topic of the day. Brian Morrissey of Adweek is on it and so are members of the digerati. Here’s what Jeff Benjamin, interactive cd at Crispin has to say: Rather than craft a one-off Web site, advertisers want to build brand loyalty by providing utilities that both improve people’s [...]