VerveCast

When’s the last time you took a shower at work? Maybe you should…

It seems a study (which included an ad agency) determined that showering during the workday helped to increase productivity.

An employee of Home (the aforementioned agency) said “I even came up with a great new TV ad idea for one of our clients while I was in there. As well as helping me get a fresh perspective on things, I also found it a great pick-me-up on the days when I felt tired.”

Hmmm, we do have a shower here at Z2… should I start showering in the middle of the day?

A wise person once told me, “use your power for good”. There is always someone who is less fortunate than you and always someone who could use your help.

A new project by eBay is helping celebrities do exactly that. The auction site has long been known for being the place to go to get celebrity paraphernalia. Now, eBay Celebrity is a section on the site to get your favorite pieces from the stars and the proceeds all go to the celebrity’s favorite charity instead of some collectors pocket. Things such as a meet and greet and charity dinner with Brad Pitt or a leather jacket from Sienna Miller can all be found in this charity arena. Instead of bidding on something that you are unsure is authentic, you can be guaranteed that it’s coming straight from your celebrity idol.

Other than the obvious benefit to the charities, this also was a great move on eBay’s part to better their business and a great move for the celebrities so that they can control what is being auctioned under their name. A fake on the Internet isn’t as easy to spot as it is in real life. The celebrities can now guarantee that the piece that is representing them is authentic and will satisfy their fans. eBay has seen a huge improvement in searches that include celebrity names. Justin Bieber has seen a 107% increase in searches on eBay. Because eBay is seeing increase in collateral sales, they are not taking any percentage from the celebrity auction house.

It’s great to see a win (celebrity), win (eBay), win (fan) come out of such a great project!

Our friends at The Pfister Hotel are in competition with the folks over at Koss in a Battle of the Brands… and to help them out, we made a little video featuring Charles Pfister as you’ve never seen him before.

So with all that, please head over to The Business Journal and cast your vote for The Pfister!

Charles thanks you. :)

April has posted about gender-based marketing a few times, so I thought I’d continue the trend…

I recently met Sacha De’Angeli from Chicago who runs a company called “RuggedScents” that makes colognes that literally smell just like what they’re named.

Oddly enough, the company sort of started as a joke.

We started out as a joke at BarCamp Chicago 2010 and ended up winning the 2010 BarCompany Chicago competition and ScaleWell’s first micro-grant, so we started a company.

Check out ruggedscents.com if you want to smell like a campfire, a lawnmower, or a gearhead, which is a combination of an auto parts store and WD-40!

In previous posts, I’ve addressed gender-based marketing—issues like segregated shopping aisles, manly diet soda and Chick Beer. But here’s one I find especially fascinating. A Canadian paint company, CIL Paints, recently renamed 27 of its paint colors in an attempt to increase their appeal to men.

Following is a list of some of new colors, followed by their original names in parenthesis.

Beer Foam (Bone White)

Dirty Socks (Lexington Park)

5 O’Clock Shadow (Plateau Grey)

Porcelain Throne (Pillar)

Bromance (Romance)

Zombie Apocalypse (Juliet’s Potion)

Top Gun (Mystery Sound)

Brute Force (Great Grey)

Down & Dirty (Twilight Zone)

Bro Code (Venetian Turquoise)

Sucker Punch (Plum Escape)

Rust on my Truck (Classic Liberty Red)

Although I personally wouldn’t be caught dead with ‘Dirty Socks’ on my walls, I’m also not the demographic the paint company is trying to reach. Overall, I think the clever new positioning will be successful. I can already see ‘man caves’ around the world boasting ‘Beer Foam’ ceilings and ‘Rust on my Truck’ walls.