Singalo takes a fresh approach to online dating and works with the idea that a lot of people know someone wonderful who is single. The free site is built on recommendations, where the dater’s profile is written and submitted by a friend.

IKEA and WWF are galvanizing Swedish school kids in the ages 6-9 to collect the aluminum shells from tea lights.

The Parisian of Les Invasions Éphémères has created stickers that will turn any key board into an old fashioned typewriter.

The Expressen newspaper reports that a school nurse in Gothenburg, Sweden has stopped giving pain killers to students. Instead, she puts them to bed and let them listen to a relaxation CD.

Swedish Insurance company Länsförsäkringar encourage people to be cautious with fire extinguishers in black and white and easily installed optical fire alarms.

Iglo light café offers light therapy as a cure to sun deprived Stockholmers throughout the dark months of October to March.

CCTV Sessions by Nudie Jeans offers free music shows from known and unknown artist alike through streaming in-store gigs, and today at GMT+1 is a world premier.

Meeting the brief of saving energy, minimizing waste and working with materials already in abundance, cardboard seems to be the choice du jour.

In a move to inject some sustainability into the usually very un-sustainable world of mobile phones, Sprint and Samsung are introducing a handset made of 80% recycled materials. The phone, made from cornbased bio-plastics will donate $2 dollars from its fifty dollar price tag to The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre Program and comes fully equipped with webrowser, GPS, 2 mega pixel camera and stereo Bluetooth.
We are not to sure about making phones out of food, but at least it is free from PVC and other harmful materials found in most other electronics. It’s charger consumes 12 times [...]

Google
Experiment rapidly, embrace failure.
Apple
Every aspect of your brand should be as good as the product.
Zipcar
Stop selling products, start selling services.
GOOD Magazine
Set the agenda and let your customers spread the conversation.
Amazon
Identify parts of our business that could be offered as additional services.
Facebook
Create the playground and let your customers define your offering.
Virgin
Think big , think small. Amaze customers with your audacity, please them with your attention to detail and customer service.
Twitter
Stay flexible, allow your audience to dictate how your services or products are used.
IKEA
Take a wider view of the shopping experience, making each step along the path to purchase simpler and, more [...]

Spotify is getting closer to the American market. The Financial Times reports of new investments from London and Hong Kong as well as potential investors from within the music industry. The company, founded by Swedes Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in 2006 is considered a prime challenger to iTunes within legal music services. Spotify only streams the music instead of saving it on the computer and pays royalty to the artists for each song they play, hence an investment deal with a record company could lead to better terms and conditions. Spotify does what we love here at PSFK – [...]

Google has become a way of life. For many people it’s the beginning, middle and end of the web experience. They are the provider of a vast array of services that enable work, play, learning and more. Google’s ability to promote  innovation amongst its staff means that it has a constant flow of new ideas.
Accessibility and usefulness define this brand. This, coupled with the negligible cost of distribution through the web, allows them to expand into areas including health, telecom, software, news, and advertising. The list goes on and on…
Lesson for Business:
Experiment rapidly, embrace failure.

“I think the fact that we [...]

Apple stands apart from the competition, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to delivering outstanding experiences through their hardware and software products, as well as their marketing and retail operations. Their focus on delivering convenience, connectivity and simplicity through design is indicative of their shift from a company traditionally serving the creative professional to one that makes products and services for all.
Apple’s iPhone has become a genuinely disruptive piece of technology, causing a number of players in the consumer electronics market to contemplate their relevance and gaming companies to re-evaluate their platforms.
Lesson for Business:
Every aspect of your brand should be as good [...]

By being intimately in-tune with societal change, the micro-rental company has broken down an established market, recreating it in a way that wins over customers with surprise and happiness.
Zipcar continues to encourage a societal shift from product ownership to service rental. Customer retention is accomplished through innovation, including mobile phone applications and the development of a fleet of electric vehicles.
It’s less about evolving the rental car market and more about changing consumer’s perception of car ownership and use.
Lesson for Business:
Stop selling products, start selling services.

“Zipcar takes care of everything. There is a sense of ease when dealing with the brand. [...]

GOOD Magazine represents the new face of publishing. Its business is not about making a magazine, or even a website—it’s about galvanizing a community that shares common interests and values. With its knack for being able to present complex issues through simple, engaging design, it can share ideas through its readers to expand its mission (and brand) beyond its immediate base.
In addition, GOOD Magazine is not afraid of the brand relationship and works with partners to create branded content that benefits the reader, the advertisers and the business.
Lesson for Business:
Set the agenda, let your customers spread the conversation.

“I find what [...]