> FINAL REFINING OF NAME CARDS / DIRECTION

> CULT OF ASIAN LUXURY

attended at the London Business School's seminar by a strategy consultant - from HK actually. - Thanks to Paul C. my tutor forwarding me such info.

got my space at the live video feed room. obviously, many interested (and found out at the end as well) in asia's opportunities - 1 room can't fit all.

interesting, however, to me, it's quite stating the obvious (which I have knowledge of) - all she stressed is Asian culture buy into big brand names, and they are pretty superficial. Asian are under COLLECTIVISM rather than INDIVIDUALISM. threw some statistics but nothing really in depth nor forward looking.

however, it did raised some good point - small luxury brands properly won't succeed in Asia as they don't operate the way Asians (Chinese esp.) prefer. good note, level of truth - may not be absolute.

good finger food and wine at the end though. yum!~

> NAME CARD CARRIER?

> TESTING MATCHUP COLOR TONE

> TIMELINE - THIS WEEK

TO DO LIST..

name card confirmation and printing (mon/tue)
packaging design (tue)
brochure layout and confirmation (tue)
postcard? (tue)
press release (wed)
domain name, hosting reg (mon)
website to be done (thur)
creating idea of feedbacks (fri)

> PRÊT-À-PORTEA

went to Berkerley Hotel the Camerel Room for "high" tea with 2 girl friends.
such a very girly thing to do - "cakes and pastries inspired by the latest fashion season’s catwalk designs for the style conscious and with savouries in miniature mouthfuls for the figure conscious" SUPPOSIVELY

looking over my shoulder, 5 men in well fitted suits, all look like alpha male, quite massive sitting at a table (one guy with ear phone were their body guard) ordered the same PRÊT-À-PORTEA as we did!!! blinked my eyes few time to make believe, but yes! they were there, sat, and ate, chatted away. and left with "feel good" smiles.

THATS A WOW. Since when some men gone to such extreme even me, found it amazingly surreal!

cost for such little luxury : £49 per person including a glass of couture champagne, sweet~

> THE OTHERS - MEN'S LUXURY BRAND

ARMREVOLUTION
WINTLE
Duckie Brown
Band of Outsiders
Martin Andersson
Thom Browne

> LET'S MATCH 'EM UP

above is the options of name card for CAROLE FORET with the back colors (right) go with the front art work (left)
test, and pls comment, I need feedback

> SOME ADD ONS

> 5 OTHER DESIGNS OF NAME CARDS

> CONFIRMING MY GUYS

AGE : 25-40 BUT WHO CARES?
WHERE : CITIES. civilized/developed countries
INTROSPECTIVE : those THINK they can/do look CHIC, STYLISH
STATUS: people LOVE TO BE SEEN, love to show off their creative skills and thinking
SEXUALITY: SURE about it either way
USAGE EXPERIENCE : none. silver jewelry at most
PROFESSION: mainly PROFESSIONALS
SPEED OF LIFE: RUSH
RISK PROFILE : ADVERSE but may tempted to break the rules
SPENDING HABIT: PROSPERITY DENIAL

> CUSTOMER-MADE

Get ready for CUSTOMER-MADE: the phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in what actually gets produced, manufactured, developed, designed, serviced, or processed. Consumerism will never be the same!"

> TESTING - NEW DIRECTION VS ORIGINAL

tested with target audience.
feedback :
varies, but more people inclined to like the new design with photos.
but convey no whatsoever idea it's a jewelry brand,men's brand, especially is a diamond brand.

RATIONAL behind my design - PHOTOS with NO point of reference:
GIVE SPACE to viewer to relate to their own experience/imagination
a PULLING ATTITUDE instead of a pushing attitude
my audience has THIER OWN creative mind, and style, bring home/related brand to whom they prefer themselves to be
anyone can't relate to cards - not quite my audience, so it's alright
LUXURY - time out, moments, air, texture, life, identity etc.> picture may help identify them
once one feel connected to brand > POINT OF INTEREST arrouse
other diamonds/precious metal brand / luxurious brand in market not heading to such RISKY DIRECTION, but to me,
EVERY MEN deserve style in life with chic precious jewelry > help them DISCONNECT BLING BLING/HIPHOP to diamond jewelry
REBUILD ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP

> GENERATION C

C=CONTENT
The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the an avalanche of consumer generated 'content' that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.

The two main drivers fuelling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using -- of course -- their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.

Examples?
Canon telling aspiring directors and photographers that "professional digital photography is no longer just for the professionals"

HP spending USD 300 million on a campaign telling consumers it's all about 'You'

Blogger offering "instant communication power"

> GETTING SPONSORS

locating environmental friendly printer, UK/HK
quotations has been expensive of printing 4 different designs of Recycling plastic card

also trying to search if printer may like to sponsor, as well being of thyself and others is one of the personal aspiration in the future ( one of the few that makes people feel connected -a luxury factor)

up to now-
few printer never do sponsoring
in conversation with : printflyers.co.uk /plasticmakesperfect.co.uk

> 2ND DRAFT OF NAME CARD

revision of 1st draft of personal name card. I prefer the 2nd last one with contact info at back of card if possible. fonts can be adjusted and also "10 29 57" should be placed under CAROLE FORET

suggested another tree from the left, maybe. more draft should be done.

> 1ST DRAFT - NAME CARD

Brief: PVC, glossy back, tree branches coming from the both side which are almost dark, brand name in the middle.

Design not very much according to brief, but it's interesting. will refine design with designer

> SPONSOR -LOVE THE EARTH

tried to locate some environmental friendly printer for cards / brochure in london who love the earth and doing good deeds that again, is what one of the aspirations of most men. align with my ideal.

> LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN

According to Michael P. Pitek, III of The Performance Group, in his paper “Brain Differences: Creativity and the Right Side of the Brain,”

“The right brain functions in a non-verbal manner and excels in visual, spatial, perceptual, and intuitive information. Processing happens very quickly and the style of processing is nonlinear and nonsequential. The right brain looks at the whole picture and quickly seeks to determine the spatial relationships of all the parts as they relate to the whole. This component of the brain is not concerned with things falling into patterns because of prescribed rules. On the contrary, the right brain seems to flourish dealing with complexity, ambiguity and paradox.”

when making buying decisions — it takes both the right (emotional) and left (logical) brains to really seal the deal. Which part of the brain is used when can give marketers clues for the sequence, timing, and key elements of their marketing campaigns.

> 1ST ROUGH DRAFT - NAME CARD

NOW, TEST IT