360 DEGREES Weblog

Today’s IHT takes a closer look at the new Louis Vuitton TV and cinema campaign, including an interview with LV’s Head of Marketing, Pietro Beccari.

The new strategy takes the focus away from celebrities and products into a much more emotional brand-centric positioning.

“It is supposed to touch our clientele and viewers in ways that perhaps other media will not touch,” said Pietro Beccari, Vuitton’s head of marketing. “This is a way to say Louis Vuitton is different. It is something éphémère, but also something that stays.”

Vuitton said it would run the ad in “rigorously selected cinemas” and on cable and satellite channels that were likely to attract well-traveled audiences. These will include news channels like CNN and BBC World, which many business travelers watch in their hotel rooms, as well as outlets like the Golf Channel, Beccari said.

“We will not use television in the way Nutella is using it,” he said, referring to the chocolate-hazelnut spread.
– (International Herald Tribune)

If you are reaching the age of possible false dentures then these Ice Cubes will certainly scare your friends and family.

In case you’re in your teens, serve your parents a fresh glass of ice-water with these cubes just to point out to them that they are old farts.

The design team at Think/Thing obviously had a lot of bad experience securing screeching babies in the child safety seats at the back of their cars. And the experience really really shows in their latest creating- the Nestt car seat. Designed in an interesting egg-shape, the Nestt uses a steel safety cage in its skeleton with memory foam cushions that clearly provides enormous side-impact protection for young children. Since the design was given a thumbs-up by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards so we’re guessing this vibrant luxury designer baby seat will sell like hot cakes!

Some of the best, and certainly the most expensive, ads of the year will take place this Sunday at $2.7 million on average for a thirty-second blast. That just about knocked us off our chair — but according to Fox that isn’t such a bad buy. Imagine all the millions of people that will simultaneously be hit with your ad’s message — most likely in a slightly inebriated state! So grab your beer, chips n’ dip and a cushy spot on the couch.

What is the future of cruise travel in 2008? A recent AP article sums up some of the trends and predictions regarding the cruise industry for 2008. Cruising has steadily grown over the past few years and cruising has evolved. Now finding cruise ships with rock-climbing walls, bowling alleys and even mechanical waves for surfing is commonplace. Joining these activities will be a chance to play on a lawn while onboard. In December 2008, Celebrity Cruises will launch Celebrity Solstice which will have a half-acre lawn of real growing grass on the top deck.

More ships are also offering shore trips that range from simple sightseeing to more adventurous excursions such as bike tours. Entertainment and education have also improved on ships. Princess ships will host a film premiere the week of February 11, showing “Bonneville,” starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen before the movie is in theaters on February 29. Wine tastings and cooking classes are also common on cruises now as are far more sophisticated spa services than were available even just a couple of years ago.

The new Volvo C30 campaign suggests that the brand has evolved from a platform of safety to a platform of high fashion - with 20 Karl Lagerfeld clones. Although Lagerfeld has previously been involved with BMW and Audi from his native Germany, he was not consulted for the Volvo campaign. Caroline Lebar, a press representative for Karl Lagerfeld said it was surprising that such a major brand would do such a campaign without contacting Lagerfeld.Volvo, fashion ??? Not a clear message, and we’ve yet to see how Lagerfeld will respond to his image being hijacked.

A modern-day luxury bathroom is incomplete without a waterproof LCD TV. Aquavision is most probably the first name what strikes us when we talk about waterproof LCD TVs for bathrooms, showers, kitchens and other wet environments. Bigger is always better in case of TVs, but till the date we haven’t seen the really big waterproof bathroom TVs. In the near future, you could have a huge 57-inch waterproof LCD TV hanging on the wall of your bathroom. Yes, Aquavision has announced to unveil the waterproof LCD TV of the future at this year’s ISE Show (Integrated Systems Europe 2008, Amsterdam) from January 29 to 31. Dubbed AVF 57-4LCD, it has Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, analogue and digital tuners, two HDMI inputs, claimed 2,073,000 pixels, and a waterproof remote control. When the TV is off, the screen turns into a mirror when it’s for your morning make-up. Hope you have a plenty of space inside your bathroom to house the waterproof beauty. Anyway, you can hang it almost anywhere, say your swimming pool or living room. Get ready folks, the big daddy of all the bathroom TVs is coming.

Revo Blik WiFi Internet Radio with FM, Clock and iPod Dock. Clever little blighter, this. Not just a wireless Internet radio with FM, alarm clock and iPod dock, but also capable of streaming audio from your computer. You don’t, however, need a PC to make it work, which means it can be bedroom based as long as it’s in range of your WiFi. Comes with a remote control and a cable to plug into your external MP3 player. The price is pretty reasonable too, at € 135.

The Builtby lamps by Inhabit are fun because you can either design your own or choose one from their preselected designs with cutesy names like Chump Change, Even Steven and Mack Daddy. The personalized way is definitely the way to go, if only because their selection website is really easy and fun to use. The color scheme is rather firmly entrenched in the hipster modern with colors like periwinkle, pea green and orange but you can do something a little more stark by combining silver, white and wenge wood blocks. I’d love to see this with more color options though. The price varies depending on selections but most lamps are in the $200 range.