JUKARI Fit to Fly

JUKARI Fit to Fly is an innovative gym workout designed for all women with one single objective – to make fitness for women fun again. JUKARI, the result of a long-term relationship between Reebok and the globally renowned entertainment company, Cirque du Soleil, is an hour-long workout that was created on a specially-designed piece of equipment called the FlySet, which gives the sensation of flying while strengthening and lengthening the body through cardio, strength, balance and core training. JUKARI launched in top gyms in fourteen cities around the world including Hong Kong, Mexico City, Madrid, London, Krakow, Munich, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Montreal, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York.

To complement JUKARI Fit to Fly, Reebok also created two collections of women’s fitness apparel and footwear called On the Move and the Reebok-Cirque du Soleil collection. Both lines consist of products that can be worn for a range of fitness disciplines, from running to yoga, JUKARI Fit to Fly, to tennis.

The Reebok-Cirque du Soleil partnership and JUKARI Fit to Fly workout are the direct result of insights into what women really want from exercise. A survey of 15,000 women across 25 countries in 2008 found that while nearly half of all women know that exercise and keeping fit is very important to their overall health, less than 25% participate in fitness often. Specially-commissioned Reebok research looked at why this might be. The findings showed that nearly two thirds (61%) of all women would workout more if it was more fun. More than half (54%) felt exercise was a chore. (Read more)

Slow Cow takes on Red Bull

Slow Cow is a relaxation beverage produced by Canadian company Slow Cow Drink Inc.  Dubbed an “anti-energy” drink, it was created to “help people slow down” and parodied Red Bull by using packaging similar to that of the popular energy drink (two cows relaxing to contrast the two bulls fighting in the Red Bull logo).  Slow Cow was launched in Quebec in December 2008. The company plans to sell the product in the rest of Canada, and in France, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, the United States, Russia, Italy, and China.

Slow Cow was developed by Lino Fleury in Quebec. He noted that while there were plenty of energy drinks available, there were no beverages to “help people slow down when they are stressed.”

Slow Cow’s principal ingredient is L-Theanine, an amino acid found in tea plants that increase levels of GABA in the brain, which is said to produce a “feeling of relaxation and well-being” “without causing sleepiness”. L-Theanine is also said to increase mental awareness, cognition, and concentration. (Read more)

Google doodles

One of the many firsts of Google is their various modifications and/or humorous features, such as cartoon modifications, of their logo for use on holidays, birthdays of famous people, and major events, such as the Olympics. These special logos, have become known as Google Doodles.

The first Google Doodle was a reference to the Burning Man Festival of 1998. The doodle was designed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to notify users of their absence in case the servers crashed. Subsequent Google Doodles were designed by an outside contractor, until Larry and Sergey asked then-intern Dennis Hwang to design a logo for Bastille Day in 2000. Hwang has been designing the Google Doodles ever since.

This link is an online museum of Google holiday logos. A must browse!!

Google doodles have been produced for the birthdays of several noted artists and scientists, including Andy Warhol, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci among others.

Google doodles are also used to depict major events at google. British novelist Roald Dahl has been featured, with the logo containing characters and items from some of his books, such as Matilda.

Google holds a Doodle4Google competition for students in grades K–12 to create their own Google doodle. Winning doodles go onto the Doodle4Google website, where the public can vote for the winner, who wins a trip to the Googleplex and the hosting of the winning doodle for 24 hours on the Google website. The competition originated in the United Kingdom, and now also exists in the United States.

Ivory Soap

Ivory soap ad

P&G’s Ivory soap was one of its oldest products which became famous for its pure contect and property of floating in water.

Because Ivory is one of P&G’s oldest products (first sold in 1879), P&G is sometimes called “Ivory Towers” and its factory and research center in Saint Bernard, Ohio is called “Ivorydale”.

The story behind Ivory soap is quite interesting. This is how it goes.
A soap maker at the Procter and Gamble company had no idea a new innovation was about to surface when he went to lunch one day in 1879. He forgot to turn off the soap mixer, and more than the usual amount of air was shipped into the batch of pure white soap that the company sold under the name The White Soap. Fearing he would get in trouble, the soap maker kept the mistake a secret and packaged and shipped the air-filled soap to customers around the country. Soon customers were asking for more “soap that floats.” When company officials found out what happened, they turned it into one of the company’s most successful products, Ivory Soap.

As of now Ivory is a small brand by P&G standards. The Ivory brand includes liquid hand soap, body wash, dish liquid, and a mild laundry product called Ivory Snow. Research in 2001 by Lehman Brothers revealed that the U.S. sales of all Ivory products, including the liquid soap and dish detergent, represented less than 1% of P&G’s total worldwide sales in the 52 weeks ended Sept. 9, 2001, just two days before 9/11.

The Post-It story

I have a Post-It fetish, absolutely adore them. And know a lot of people who share the same feeling with me. So wanted to find out the story behind this innovation of 3M.

As it turns out, this product was an accidental discovery by a scientist at 3M.

According to Wiki, in 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, with the help of Jesse Kops, a fellow scientist, accidentally developed a “low-tack”, reusable pressure sensitive adhesive. For five years, Silver promoted his invention within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without much success. In 1974, a colleague of his, Art Fry, who had attended one of Silver’s seminars, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his hymnbook. 3M launched the product in 1977, but it failed as consumers had not tried the product. A year later 3M issued free samples to residents of Boise, Idaho, United States. By 1980 the product was being sold nationwide in the US; a year later Post-its were launched in Canada and Europe. In 2003, the company came out with Post-it Brand Super Sticky notes, with a stronger glue that adheres better to vertical and non-smooth surfaces.