Eye Sightings

Greek Yogurt Gets Frozen

With brands like Fage and Chobani a common sight in every grocer's refrigerator, it seems clear that Americans have embraced the texture and flavor of strained Greek yogurt. The next logical step? Frozen Greek yogurt! In the last couple months, Stonyfield's Oikos brand and Ben & Jerry's have both launched versions of the frozen concoction.

Pizza Hut Courts Couples

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Pizza Hut has announced its new "Perfect Proposal" package, a $10,010 item that includes a ruby engagement ring, limo service, fireworks show, flowers, photographer and videographer, as well as a Pizza Hut dinner box. While this may be an extreme case of gilding the lilly - a standard, unadorned dinner box retails for a more reasonable $10 - we think it's also a clever way of highlighting a menu item aimed at couples.

Your Life Online, For All To See

The line between virtual and reality is becoming even blurrier. Netflix has introduced legislation that changes the Video Protection Privacy Act, which requires a customer's consent before sharing video viewing information. When the law was enacted in 1988 it may not have seemed particularly relevant, but now Netflix is hoping to let user's Facebook friends know exactly which movies they're streaming.

Learning to Embrace Your Doubts

For Advertising Week 2011, Consumer Eyes attended an inspiring talk by Paul Lavoie, co-founder & chairman of TAXI Advertising, on his philosophy of doubting conventional thought – thinking outside of the box, so to speak.

Expert Eyes: How to Trick Kids Into Eating Their Vegetables

 

Consumer Eyes is relaunching its website! We've got a fresh new look, and lots of exciting new features to check out like Expert Eyes - our new collection of interviews with thought-leaders from a wide range of categories and disciplines.

Taking Social Shopping to the Next Level

It's old news that Starbucks patrons can use gift cards loaded onto their iPhones to pay for lattes - but one programmer has turned the feature into a fascinating social experiment. That man, Jonathan Stark, decided to see what would happen if he made his gift card entirely public; anyone can download his card onto their phone (get it for yourself here) and use it to pay for their coffee. Of course, with his card info entirely public, anyone can also choose to put money back into the card.

The End of Curation?

New York Magazine’s “Grub Street” blog recently declared the death of the “curation” buzzword. In the last few years, it’s become an inescapable part of restaurant menus and press releases, an easy way to boost cachet and make any group of items sound like they were placed together only after hours of careful consideration.

Minimizing Packaging, Not Convenience

A new grocery store in Austin, In.gredients, is looking to change the way we buy our food. Shoppers are expected to bring their own packaging - typically jars and tupperware from home - and purchase loose items by weight, selecting from a wide range of meats, dairy, grains, spices and other items. Beer and wine will even be available on tap for those who bring their own growlers or bottles.

BitCoin

BitCoin is a new form of currency whose backers hope it will replace not only PayPal, but also real-world money itself, in online transactions. This idea has appeared before - Beenz and Flooz have previously attempted this feat - but BitCoin has some interesting tricks up its sleeve.

Social Media Do's and Don'ts from the ReadWriteWeb 2WAY Summit

Do you know what the future of social media holds? This week we sent two members of our team (Dave B. and Dave C., a.k.a. "the Daves") to ReadWriteWeb's annual 2WAY summit at Columbia University in search of insights about digital technologies and social media.

In many ways, we're on the threshold of a new phase of the social media boom. 71% of the US population is on Facebook. 89% of US adults are using some form of social media, and 88% of companies are communicating with them. As this technology nears saturation, brands will need to find new ways to stand out from the crowd.

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