Gigabiting

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It’s tough out there in the 21st century. What’s a magazine to do? The internet is running circles around print. And greeting cards? How can they compete against e-cards with their music and animation?

Welcome to the world of sensory marketing.

For years perfume and cologne companies have been using scented strips to introducing customers to their fragrances. Scratch-and-sniff advertising had a burst of popularity in the late 1970′s. Now peel-and-lick lickvertising is having its moment. Read entire article.

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The Wall Street Journal has one. And the New York Times. Playboy Magazine too.

What’s a news organization to do?

Newspapers and magazines have turned to selling wine as a new way of generating revenue from readers. There’s nothing new about the business model. Classified ads were the traditional way for publishers to take advantage of the communities they created. With subscriptions dwindling and the advent of free Craigslist classifieds, a diverse group of publishers has applied the same principles to wine clubs. Read entire article.

No, it wasn’t one hell of a takeout order.

The cookies are part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s effort to reach various ethnic populations. The Bureau ordered two million custom cookies from a fortune cookie factory in Seattle’s Chinatown. Crack one open and the fortune reads Put down your chopsticks and get involved in Census 2010, or one of the other four messages exhorting us to fill out and return our census forms. The cookies will be available this spring in Chinese restaurants throughout the Northwest. Read entire article.

image via The Economist

The smart money is betting against the Euro.

Yes, there’s trouble with Greece and interest rates are low and there’s too much debt. But there’s another reason to be pessimistic: have you seen the price of a Big Mac?

A Big Mac is a Big Mac wherever you go. Same sesame seed bun, same special sauce, same double beef patties. Comprised of the same tradeable goods and non-tradeable services worldwide it should, in theory, cost the same wherever you go.

The theory of burger-buying parity is tested in The Economist’s Big Mac Index. The index demonstrates the purchasing power of consumers around the globe by converting the world’s currencies to a hamburger standard. The fair-value benchmark– the point where there is purchasing parity between the nations– is the exchange rate that has every consumer world-wide paying the same price for a Big Mac (The Economist looks at that price in dollars). Paying more than the benchmark price for a Big Mac? You live in a country with an over-valued currency. Read entire article.

 Ketchup + Mayo Ronald courtesy of Magnús Elvar Jónsson