In the US, brands have long since recognised the power of female bloggers. But only now is the rest of the world waking up to this lucrative phenomenon. And it’s rapidly changing the rules of advertising, marketing and even brand management.

Women bloggers are the new advertising heavyweights. They control a huge audience – a whopping 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week.

And a survey published by BlogHer this year revealed that around 50% of women consider blogs a reliable source of advice and information and are directly influenced by blogs in their purchase decisions.

So how are brands reacting? Businesses now send promo items to bloggers in an attempt to win their favour. Even Wal Mart publicly admits working with a team of female bloggers to promote the company.

My advice: take a more deliberate and inclusive approach to women bloggers. They can make or break your product’s success in the female consumer segment, so find out what they’re saying about you. If you decide to actively engage with them, read the blog to understand its editorial agenda before approaching the blogger.

The times are a’ changing. Women have long since established themselves as the stronger sex and influential consumers. And now they are ruling the blogosphere too. A safer option than letting us men lead the way…

This sums up all the don’ts of urban waste management:

1) Find a suitable space – preferably a SLOAP
2) Take a standard paper recycling bin
3) Add a red, inventive flap and sign combo reading: ‘No Paper – Batteries – Iron – Metal – Electronics’ 
4) Dump the redesigned bin and other waste bins in the SLOAP to create a true downtown dump yard
5) Expect citizens to take this service seriously and back you up

If done properly, the space will look so trashy that even graffittists will stay away.

Though many people in Denmark and Europe consider the iPhone as an extremely expensive mobile phone, the concept is quite the opposite in USA. Many low income people in the US don’t have a spare income to invest in a (laptop) computer as well as a broadband connection, and are thus using the iPhone for all the internet business.

Just a funny thought when you compare our ways of using the potentials of the (i)phone…

Supplementary reading at TechWorld…

And now for the funny iPhone-image-f-the-day :-)

Today we’re accompanying Denmark’s PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Chinese-Danish Climate Change Conference in Beijing. The atmosphere will be celebratory – he did, after all, get China on board yesterday for a climate pact goal at next year’s UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen. A well-needed triumph that’s left the Danish press whooping.

But bigger challenges lie ahead for Fogh. Denmark may be a world leader in modern energy. But we pay our way to almost half of our national C02 reductions through credit initiatives abroad. Is that visionary? Is that a good example to set to the world?

Now’s the time to solve climate challenges in our own back yard. And us designers can help reduce CO2 emissions in lots of ways. Create packaging that stacks well, so reducing transport pollution. Apply user-centred or persuasive design so people use products and services efficiently. Or, like we’re doing at the moment, designing a progressive metro so people ditch the car for public transport.

Our message to Fogh? Use designers like us. Design isn’t just about making nice-looking chairs. It can actually solve global problems, like climate change. Let’s make it happen!