yours is definitely bigger than mine

Um, kind of irrelevant post, dedicated to my big brother, whose loving Mum and sis searched all over Tokyo to get a Nintendo DS lite for at the height of its “sold out” phase.

Look! I got one too! And it ironically (or maybe not) came free with a learning English game.

You want it?

x

duck me, good duck!

This is designed to be funny and fun, but really, methinks it will be incredibly annoying…

My Pringles came with a free “Duck Whistle,” which looks like two plastic pringles stuck together with a mouthpiece. Blow through it and it makes an ear-piercing duck shriek. I’ve only done it a few times and I can already see angry parents snatching it away from over-tartrazined kids before stomping on it in crazed anger. It’s a bit like those party whistles that come in Christmas crackers, the ones that you pray will never find itself in the hands of the person sitting next to you.

When you put it in your mouth, I guess you look like a duck, except with a pringle beak. Wait, let me test that theory…

Yup. That’s incredible, I really look like a duck with a pringle beak.

And Pringles’ point to all this is?

“Duckie Friends! Everyone enjoy!!” “Send in your ‘Duck Bill’ photos and become part of a huge ‘Duck Bill’-photo mural.”

How this will work, I’m not sure because the campaign doesn’t start until Sept. 26. By which time, if enough people hoot on these whistles, I am sure a number of serial pringle-duck killers will be born.

jolly roger to another fun blog

I have one these, there’s a pic on flickr (of the other one, a dark brown bear). It’s actually a mini green led torch, which shines out the bottom. Came free with Ito-en Kogiaji green tea. But this is not my picture. This is Pheromone and Temptation’s picture. I have no idea who Pheromone … or Jolly Roger (in the link name) is, but the blog is nice. It has pics of just about every freebie under the rising sun! See for yourself: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/jollyroger/

namacha i missed out on!

Canned green tea, with one of my favorite product mascots! AND I MISSED IT. Waaah! I want, I want, but unfortunately it passed me by. Came across this in a marketing magazine while researching for work. It’s a limited edition canned version of Kirin’s namacha, with their pecology panda. Funny, canned coffee is the norm here, but you don’t see much canned green tea.

Update!

Thanks to the lovely tigerbot (thankyou! xxx). I have more info on this now.

This was a Web site campaign that involved taking votes from users for the packaging design of Namacha Tamakiri 100. And this can Pandacha was the winner.

People looking at the Web site are also invited to design their own packaging, which they can stick around a can, take a digital photo of, which can be entered into a competition. Winner gets to see their can as the real product. www.markers.co.jp/namachagyokuro

asta la vista videostore

Now you don’t have to even get out of the station to rent a dvd. Astalavista have already set up 10 of these dvd-rental boxes at various stations around Tokyo. They look like cash machines and all you need to do is register, choose from 20 dvd titles, use a credit card or visa card to pay (340 yen per dvd), then take the dvd from the slot. To return, you just put it back in the slot the next day.

These machines apparently will also be appearing in convenience stores, supermarkets and cafes.