The rapid rise of smart technologies can make creating and maintaining meaningful human relationships a challenge. In response, EatWith offers its users an authentic dining experience coupled with the opportunity to form new social bonds. Touted as the Airbnb for dinner parties, EatWith is a community marketplace that lets members enjoy authentic and intimate dining experiences in other people’s homes. Currently available in Israel and Barcelona but with the ambition to spread worldwide, EatWith enables locals to open their kitchens to people from all over the world. By doing so, it provides the opportunity for a new kind of serendipitous socialising within an intimate setting. (via EatWith: social dining experiences)

From offal to breast milk, experimental eating is grabbing headlines, and Mexican street food chain Wahaca’s new grasshopper dish is no exception. While the high protein content is a potential selling point, the real offering is a taste of authenticity – the introduction of genuinely ‘foreign’ foods to a cosmopolitan London.

Previously the preserve of the occasional enthusiastic journalist returning from South East Asia, an emerging culture of experimentation has seen creepy crawly snacks gain traction in the West. Yet despite this, the ‘yuck’ label remains; novelty – and a degree of bravado – are still intrinsic to their appeal. With the recent horse meat scandal eroding consumer confidence in affordable meat, is the time right for novelty sustainable dishes like Wahaca’s grasshopper fondue to broaden their remit?

(…continues @ A taste of authenticity: Wahaca’s grasshopper fondue)

It is mainly consumerism, rather than the hippie movement that massively contributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. In fact, the “sex sells” truism has been attributed to Hugh Heffner, who anecdotally coined it in defense of his, at the time (1953), controversial magazine Playboy. And while sexual innuendo has been used to sell anything from cars to chocolate, actual sex was confined to sketchy alleys, blacked out windows and red light districts.

Even 2011’s Fifty Shades of Grey attributed its success to the rise of e-book readers that don’t reveal the book cover during a commute. But soon enough, the book’s physical edition not only became prominently displayed on said trains and buses, it even appeared on supermarket shelves next to the lunchtime 3 for 1 specials.

“What EL James has done is clearly taken erotic fiction to the mainstream. It’s not that women weren’t reading it, it’s just that it wasn’t available in Tesco and Sainsbury’s. So more power to her,” says Gillian Green at Ebury Publishing for The Guardian. “It’s like we’ve got permission to enjoy it – she’s the acceptable face of saucy fiction.”

Critics, however, remain puzzled by the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, since erotica has been done before and far more juicily, take for instance Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden (1973). So EL James’s success is typically attributed to the recession, when publishers would predictably turn to sex as a last resort to sell.

However, there may be far more to it and erotic fiction could be just a part of the entire sex category going mainstream. For example, a new company called Smile Makers have already taken steps towards disrupting the category through innovative design. Their intention is to take the world of sex toys into the health & beauty aisles with other consumer products; while their line of vibrators follows precisely the erotic fiction icons of male sexiness such as “The Millionaire” and “The Tennis Coach”.

One may argue that multinational chain Ann Summers has already succeeded in making sex mainstream, through its focus on women and its home parties. But we have yet to see sexual fantasy sold in pharmacies and the health & beauty sections of the “Big Five” supermarkets.

Finally, this would potentially also affect the sexual innuendo employed in other industries. Sex will still sell, except not through indulgence and ‘being naughty’ but through wholesomeness and ‘good for you’.

(via When Sex Sells in Supermarkets – Sign Salad)

A new project at Selfridges is the latest experiment in the power of silence. A quiet oasis in the midst of a hectic shopping environment in central London, it testifies to a growing interest in the benefits of quiet introspection.

UK department store Selfridges has launched a No Noise project based on their Silence Room, re-opened for the first time in over 90 years to offer a quiet oasis in the midst of the hectic shopping experience in central London. The campaign invites customers to “celebrate the power of quiet, see the beauty in function and find calm among the crowds.” Launched immediately after the frantic seasonal sales, the campaign has effectively turned the natural tendency of the post-Christmas wind-down into a shopping opportunity.

(via How Selfridges made noise about being quiet, Canvas8)

Rebellious fashion brand Diesel is encouraging people to go offline. Is this just controversy for controversy’s sake or does it reflect a real and growing disillusionment with online experiences?

At a time when most brands are anxious to find even better ways to connect with youth and catch up with the fast-paced digital age, Diesel has taken the counter-intuitive approach and invites the world to disconnect, take a step back to the pre-internet times and do ‘real’ things.

The occasion of the call to go offline is the international relaunch of the 1993 classic YUK shoe, which pre-dates the internet. Therefore, the act of putting on the shoe is presented as an opportunity to step back in time, “do stuff, meet people and have real offline fun!”

In this spirit, Diesel asks its audience a few key questions regarding their connected life, such as: “When did sharing become annoying, and liking just a pointless online gesture?”, and “Why do you know what your friend’s lunch looks like, and how is this making the world a better place?”

But how can Diesel connect with fans while promoting disconnection?

(via Diesel YUK relaunch: promoting ‘pre-internet’ experiences)

In 2006, Ford Motor Co. mortgaged its logo in exchange for a $23.5 billion restructuring loan. Last month, however, Fitch Ratings raised the automaker’s credit and the company is now on the way to regaining one of its major assets. In the words of Ford’s former CFO Lewis Booth (1), getting the Blue Oval back would have an “enormous” psychological impact on the company. So why was it initially dropped for the Go Further campaign? (via Sandra Mardin - Go Further without a logo)

With virtually every aspect of our lives becoming an opportunity for brands to try to sell things to us, a new generation of consumers is looking to escape the ubiquitous ‘sponsored experience’ which characterises many festivals. At the same time, brands are becoming more attuned to the needs and attitudes of festival-goers. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Getting away from it all: the changing face of festival branding)

Touted as the first social credit card, Barclaycard Ring Mastercard has been built through the power of an online community. As the typically impersonal, business-like sector of electronic banking goes social, what are the potential challenges and implications? (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Barclaycard Ring: the crowdsourced credit card)

Imagine gaining 190,000 new customers overnight. That’s what energy companies in Britain are doing thanks to the Big Switch, a new reverse auction hosted by Which? and 38 Degrees. The idea is to help consumers get a better deal on their energy bills by using the group-buying model largely associated with Groupon. So far, it has attracted over 190,000 signatures in just one month and has won the support of over 100 British MPs representing all three major parties. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Which? Big Switch: the collective consumer)

Holvi replaces the standard bank account with a service that offers a smart checking account for group activities. This Finnish pan-European company offers a new online banking experience for small teams, integrating the checking account with bookkeeping and fundraising services. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Holvi)

As cloud computing and streaming services proliferate, we wanted to understand how young professionals are adapting to the new technology and particularly where they place value in the cloud. We spoke to five young adults in their twenties– four from the UK and one from Sweden – about their digital streaming and storing habits. While impermanence and control seem to be the prevailing issues, our interview revealed additional perceived drawbacks. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Value in the cloud)

With an increasing number of marketing-savvy homegrown brands taking on China’s beauty market, how can the multinational giants keep up? From the ‘Yue-Sai’ look of the 90s to the ‘Chen Man’ look of the future, this report explores how different colours have been used in China’s beauty sector to signify deeper levels of meaning. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - The Chinese beauty industry: a fine balance)

Maison Cailler is a new luxury brand from Nestlé that offers a unique customer profiling system which personalises chocolate. However, consumers in developed markets often remain cynical when it comes to the attempts of big corporations to offer the niche and boutique. So how can Nestlé tackle this challenge? (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Maison Cailler: chocolate with personality)

Sharing office space – or ‘co-working’ – with other independent professionals is a familiar concept to many freelancers. Beyond just being places to work, co-working spaces are built around the idea of community and sustainability. Loosecubes is a New-York based online database of co-working spaces which hopes to take the trend mainstream. (via Canvas8, Sandra Mardin - Loosecubes: the future of workplaces?)