What is the task exactly?

In the past two years there has been limited editions of new designs for the little, red pocket knife. Through their new design they could expand their target group as well as generating spontaneous purchases.

Now they need your help to come up with new design ideas for the the synthetic casing of the small Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. The task is only to redesign the synthetic casing, not the knife itself!

Have you heard about Victorinox?

Victorinox’s story dates back to the 19th century. Fast foward to 1921 when they invented rust-free steel! From there they became immensely popular with the world’s most famous cult Swiss items: the Swiss Army Knife with the classic red design and unmistakable white Swiss cross.

But enough talking, let’s get prepard for the contest start, stay tuned!

Extra time

To collect some more ideas and to give you some more time to develop your submissions further, the submission phase in Astra Goes Digital Contest will be extend from the 26th January to 2nd February, 2012. Also the prize money will be raised from 7,500 EUR to 10,000 EUR. On top of all that, Astra will licence at least one idea within three month after contest end!

Client’s feedback

First of all, there are some very high quality ideas which fittingly reflect the Astra brand and are on point with the briefing. Here, it is less important for Astra that the visuals look like Astra but the idea itself should fit the brand and match with the CSR-guidelines! So far, very good work jovotans!

For doing the refining here are some hints:

• Make sure that your idea is absolutely in line with the CSR guidelines (Marketing Communication Policy Carlsberg)
• Astra’s brand identity is totally different from other beer brands. Your idea should show that and represent Astra’s very distinct brand identity. Give Astra your concept and a unique and distinguishing appearance!
• Your concept should work for current as well as potential customers. So ideally your campaign idea shouldn’t require any brand knowlegde.
• Add an idea description as asked for in the mandatory requirements (question 1-5). That will make it way easier to understand, discuss and evaluate your idea!

If you have any further questions please contact us!

It’s feedback o’clock again! We are flying into the last submission week for the Connecting me with all contest, only 5 days left to submit your exciting ideas to connect guests visiting the “me and all hotels”. We just had our last checkpoint with our partners for the Connecting me with all contest and here’s their last feedback.

• To stress this once more. They are extremely satisfied with the results so far. The contest if full of well developed ideas that are full of potential.
• One of the discussions that popped up during the last weeks was the fact that perhaps some the ideas might be “too” geeky. The client stated that this shouldn’t be a huge issue. Me and all hotels are especially aiming for the tech-savy people.
• Usability is still key tough. So it’s perfectly fine to go for a really tech based idea, as long as it stays user friendly. Also important to state, the client told us that they already many great approaches that are perfectly on the right path.

Feedback from our side is vote, vote, vote. We know that a lot of the ideas are detailed and time consuming to understand, but I guarantee you that it’s absolutely worth the time. There are some truly amazing concepts in this contest.

19 days since we opened the creative playground for new Coke crate ideas – and over 100 ideas submitted already! Accompanied by a super lively discussion on design, usability and sustainability of new crate concepts.

As you can imagine we had a very long and intense „Bergfest“ (feedback talk) with the packaging and marketing professionals from Coca-Cola Germany, going through the ideas and the questions discussed in the contest.

Now we can give you a summary of the findings to help you develop your ideas further.

So here we go!

Descriptions

The Coca-Cola professionals are eager to understand your ideas *in detail* to be able to assess them better. So it is most important that you deliver a clear description on:

• What is your idea is?
• What problem does your solution solve?
• And *how* does your solution solve this problem (by using a certain function, by using a certain material, etc.)

Style

We see no limits to your ideas and how your Coca-Cola crates could be used and put into a living environment – which is a great inspiration. Sometimes the crates even cross the boarder of still being a crate – they could certainly win prizes in a contest for Coke branded furniture! 
But *please consider* the key use of the transportation crate is to carry the bottles from store to home – and back to the store.

So besides being an iconic accessory for every apartment the crate should never loose its function of bringing the bottles back! With all that moving around, (the main function of each crate!) – no matter what material is made of – will show traces of use, ware & tare. Consider this when you’re thinking of displaying your crate as a glossy icon for a living room.
With a lifespan up to 20 years, a crate will go through hundreds of returns! –This is why its so important to consider terms of stability and sustainability.

Brand

You guys are doing a brilliant job in putting the Coca-Cola brand on center stage. Many, many “got-to-have” crates in this contest! There are crates that are pieces of art and of course this aspect is very important for Coca-Cola. One important aspect to be considered (because crates are used up to 20 years) the branding must be timeless so it never interferes with the visual language & communication of Coca-Cola. And unfortunately the style question of “the everyday” is limited by requirements and functionality.

Form

Do round forms work? Triangles? Organic Forms? There’s one simple solution to this question. As long as you manage to stack as many bottles on the palette as Coca-Cola does today that is fine. If your solution wastes too much space – it’s not.

Function

In connection with the fact that a transportation crate has to be returnable, over and over again- is the fact that ALL PARTS have to be durable enough to survive this heavy use. Most thin and movable parts probably won’t last. Parts that can even detached from the crate will most probably get lost very quickly. Parts that stick out of the crate body are likely to break off or to get in the way and cause trouble in the process of stacking and shipping the crates. Snap or clip handles are an easy thing to do, but consider you would have to do this a million times every day. Machines and production line workers would have additional work and loose time with over complicated extra-solutions – practicability tests prove that after all, the client wants solutions that use as little intricate hand work as possible.

Production

As the briefing says, the crates have to be refillable in an automatized and mechanic way. Each extra step – like putting an extra lid or top to a crate – will make this process more complicated, will ask for more complicated machines and will slow down the process.Just imagine that in one day, tens of thousands of bottles have to be processed.

Price

Clients want great solutions but at the same time no one is happy to add additional charges. So if you ad an additional function to the crate, think how many people would profit from the solution and would agree to pay more for it. A crate with a cooling system e.g. is more likely to be an extra Coca-Cola item than to be used as the general transportation crate.

Transportation

Think about the people that carry the crates and give them solutions that are really comfortable. Observe precisely what fits human ergonomics & user-friendliness and what might not. Stackability – as often mentioned under the ideas – is a main issue.

Now that’s what I call feedback! So go on, undertake the challenge and carefully consider these tips. Keep asking questions, finding solutions and doing a great job!

What a great wrap up to a contest! The second Cisco contest Why Collaborate? has come to a close and we are here and ready to announce the winners of the challenge.  With 162 ideas and over 3,626 commented this contest packed a punch! There was so many well thought out and successful concepts submitted! Great work to everyone who participated!

So with out further waiting, your Top 10 rated Community Winners:

#1 –  Remote Collaboration by Peregrino96

#2 – Tip Top Troop by markocezar

#3 - Eyes by Xavier

#4 - Soaring Ideas by gusmonk

#5 –  Collaboration Dream Team by chronorocker

#6 – Threads by creativespace

#7 – Collaborate.Innovate.Succeed by priyanka

#8 – Flags of the World by joanaf

#9 – Historical Collaborative Results by

10 -Complex world by rural_minds

Lets not forget the community winners of places 11 – 20!

11 – Share ideas, make it big by bobby_kanch

12- We are all the same by suyani

13- Dancing Queen ♫ by kaptn

14- Gobbledegook by svpribyl

15 – To get best RESULTS by LUGOS

16 – Without you by AnnaNuthaThang

17 – We Were Born by solo

18 – Gears by additio

19 – Puzzle by Xavier

20 – Weustogether by Xavier

Congrats again to all of you! This was such a fun challenge to work on and there was such great work submitted!

Find out here, who won!

Congratulations, and please don’t forget to send us a postcard!

The announcement is finally here! With the GSX challenge closed the final community winners are ready to be presented! this was a fun challenge with its quirky task to develop an eye catching campaign for this B2B  commerce service. The contest went great and there were so many great concepts! Thanks yto all of those that participated as well. With 89 ideas and over 2,900 comments this challenge was a small success!

I wont keep you, here are the top 10 of the rated community winners:

#1- Complex Things by Mi5hel

#2- 2in1 by gaborrieger

#3- Bionic by suyani

#4- The Fine Print Makes the Difference by suyani

#5 – You need us and you know it by solo

#6 – Dazwischen by Janne

#7 – Points by Xavier

#8 – Different ways – One target by spuersinn

#9 - Invisible or Mocked? byTobis

#10 - Elevator Campaign byMi5hel

Lets not forget the rest of the community winners either #’s 11 – 20.

11 – brain anatomy by gusmonk

12- GXS Tourists by hinatao

13 -Think Forward - Think  by spuersinn

14 -Burst Heads by Xavier

15 -Connected by GXS by gaborrieger

16 -Access GXS! by bonibom

17 -If we say cloud, we mean by KleinerIdeenautomat

18-GXS impossible by bonibom

19 – THE GRID by CzLaczi

20 – First WORK Problems by toutvabien.

Thank you all again for those that participated. What a great challenge! Congrats to all of you again : )

First of all, it’s not an easy task! The mechanics of PAYBACK are complex already and the new promotions and campaigns are even more so. To make it a bit easier, we again summed up the two main aspects of the coupon booklet, which are:

• During this promotion and with the coupons from the booklets customers can collect even more points (up to 20-times more) than usual. So, e.g. up to 20 points per Euro spent, rather than 1 point per Euro spent..
• Everything depends on coincidences and surprises, for example which coupons the customers receive and in turn how many more points they can collect.

Client feedback

However, you guys are on the right track! Here are a few hints for refining your ideas:

• The name should have a certain “this is a big promotion!” character and should include that the coupon booklet is something special.
• Hence, it is desireable for the name of the promotion to convey that this is only happening for a special period of time.
• Your name must clearly differentiate the coupon booklet promotion from the general PAYBACK product (as points can be collected the whole year, but random coupons are only given out for a limited period).

So, community! Let’s go!

This is a jovoto private contest, if you don’t have access to the private layer but want to participate, please apply via your user profile!

Until the end of January you can still submit concepts to the hotel of the future idea contest “me and all”, organized by the Lindner Hotel group and Telekom Germany, who are looking for innovative approaches to networking. Rainer Zimmermann, professor for strategy and Design (FH Düsseldorf) and one of the six jury members, reviews the interim results below.

How do you asses the preliminary results of the “me and all” – idea contest so far?

I’m pretty happy with them. So far there are three submissions which I view as a solid starting point. And I also have to compliment Deutsche Telekom: The contest as a whole is a good way to back up medium-sized businesses by including professional and semi-professional creatives in the process. That’s the way to go – plus collaboration is exactly what this hotel concept aiming at after all.

That sounds quite enthusiastic.

Indeed. Personally, I find the title “me and all” a wee bit too keen, but it programmatically combines the two mega-trends that it’s all about: On the one hand the ever growing individualization and atomization of milieus into individuals and their needs, on the other hand the clustering and development of communities. Lindner Hotels already accomplishes something that others will have to achieve in the future: the connection of individuals with the outer-net. The two challenges will be: Customize the hotel for me. And: Connect me with the hotel and its environment, which also sets the criteria for this contest.

..namely?

I see four crucial criteria. Technology: Is the submission state of the art? I for instance am astonished that none of the submissions includes Pattie Maes‘ (MIT) Sixth-Sense technology. You wear a camera and a small-sized projector on your chest, which is linked to a small handheld device in your pocket, putting an augmented-reality layer over what you see in front of you. So when the camera recognizes someone in front of you it could project relevant information about the person from his or her website in a tag cloud on that person‘s shirt. This technology will be optimized for the mass market soon and should play a relevant role in the hotel concepts of the future. So that’s the first criterion: The employed technology has to be state of the art.

What about the second?

The lifestyle factor: urban networking shouldn’t merely target mainstream culture – it should also include subcultures. Or rather: The system wouldn’t be sufficient if it only replicated information that we already have access to. I’d like to be able to visit places and events that wouldn’t be findable if I only had two days in the city – that actually takes a partner. So how do I find such partners and how do I get them involved? I haven’t seen any concepts that tackle the matter from that angle. This approach would moreover contribute to the hotels’ local touch.

And what about the third criterion?

Convenience. I’d like to see a solution that doesn’t overregulate the technical aspect. I don’t want to have to fumble around on my iPhone for hours just to open the roller blinds at half past six in the morning.

And last but not least…

Obviously it’s the design aspect. I imagine fractalization that allows for permutations, mirroring the collaborative approach, rather than a set-in-stone design. The design has to be open and changeable. These are my criteria.

As a professor for design you’re in touch with numerous branches that are affected by the digital development. Are there any sectors that perform better than the hotel industry?

I don’t think so. I’m in close touch with the retail and financial sector for instance. Those guys actually experiment a lot, but they haven’t developed proper prototypes yet. Lindner Hotels are really standing at the forefront here.

Check out the interview in German here.

Starting the 29th of December, we are teaming up with Coca-Cola Germany to provide the ideation platform for the Coca-Cola Design+ Award challenge!

And what is the Coca-Cola Design+ Award?

Taking another step in their sustainability initiative, L+ path Coca-Cola Germany wants you to conceptualize the Coca-Cola crate of tomorrow. And that’s no easy task! The  beverage carrying crates of Coca-Cola Germany are already versatile, practical and environmentally friendly. So where can you go from here? That’s up to you!

The Jury & Prizes

Get the chance to work and win with a professional Jury of innovators, designers and real life consumer representatives with a grand total of 25,000 euro prize money:

• 15,750 euro in community prizes
• 3,000 euro for each of the 3 Jury prizes categories- design, sustainability & usability!
• 250 euro for the half-time Karma King or Queen

Take part in the young Designers Award of Coca-Cola Germany and do your part to establish a new understanding of design concepts combining form and sustainability requirements! The submission period begins the 29th of December 2011!

Find out more infomration here!

And don’t forget to keep up with us on Facebook & Twitter #CocaColaDesign+