Kookmeyer Institute

Friskies has launched a series of iPad games for cats which I was going to say is ‘new’ but, as Aden Hepburn points out in his blog, looks remarkably similar to this one. It would be pretty cheeky if Friskies simply re-skinned what the other crowd had created. But they’ve actually taken it a step further, developing the games in HTML 5 rather than as an app. Some people like to shoot down campaigns on the basis that they’ve been done before but so what? It doesn’t mean you can’t do it better or simply leverage ideas (via sponsorship etc) that are already popular. That’s not to say you should ever steal ideas though. There is a difference.

Take a look at the future of publishing (possibly). Adobe talks as if the new iPad is the best thing since sliced bread but can it really add that much more to users’ online experience? Rather than merely sexing up the way titles are packaged, I think publishers need to focus on more new ways to truly engage users, be it journalists replying to comments on every story, asking users what they want, giving them buying power, creating targeted events or finding a better solution to banner advertising.