We’re now some months on from the sad news of the death of Steve Jobs, which caused so much reflection in the world’s media.

For those who haven’t already, I’d suggest reading Malcolm Gladwell’s article in the New Yorker. It raises a really interesting question about innovation, the role of the inventor and the ‘tweaker’, arguing quite compellingly that Jobs was more of a tweaker than an inventor…

As our Engineers headed off for the holidays, we asked them what they wanted to find in their stockings this Christmas.

From the deadly serious to the jokey, here are a few of their responses. I’ll leave you to decide which is which.

“25 hours  in a day. Oh, and the time to write that book on branding and multiplicity in marketing!” – Giles Lury, executive chairman

“Fifa 12 by EA, and a pair of Nike Tiempo IV Elite Football Boots” – Will Butterworth, consultant 

” A TVE cloning machine, to make those awkward diary clashes a thing of the past.” – Richard Oldham, joint managing director

“A week in the Maldives, please” – Liana Gregorians, marketing analyst  (Hear hear, Liana, can we come too? – Ed)

“A Starbucks room in the office – decorated in Starbucks’ warm colours, with comfy chairs and a professional barista to make us delicious coffees to suit our individual tastes – somewhere we can retreat, meet, chat, think, read,  relax and laugh.” – Katy Mousinho, joint managing director

“A Mulberry handbag and a desk that stays clear for the first week of January” – Rebecca Gaul, consultant

And a final request to the man in red, on behalf of all those Engineers who live east of Beaconsfield:

“A law against drivers who stay in the outside lane doing 40 mph on the A40.” – David Holland, consultant

So there you have it: a few thoughts on the stocking fillers we’ve been hoping for this Christmas. To all our readers, best wishes for the holidays, and here’s hoping that Santa brought you all you were dreaming of as we head into 2012.

As we work and play a lot with video games and believe them to be the best indicator of where retail and digital experience interfaces could stretch in the future, we always have a biased ear out for any video gaming stories.

So Paul Gaskell – a gaming connoisseur himself – was delighted to comment on the ‘social side of gaming’ in this article in The Grocer recently which looks at how brands are targeting gamers through product placement.

What’s interesting is that this isn’t just about product placement as encouraging us to buy into another’s lifestyle – e.g. the famous Coke placement in Friends – but this is about product placement being part of our own experience and interaction, informing the digital space where we’re playing and making decisions rather than just spectating.

It’s also relatively cost effective for brands – as Paul says, ‘it’s a relatively cost effective way of generating a lot of coverage for relatively little investment.’

Let’s hope that this grows into a full choice of brands in our digital gaming experience – how much better my walk-in wardrobe in Sims could be if I could curate the labels that go into it!

For more discussion on product placement issues and gaming, do join in the debate.

At first, when we thought about Facebook we thought about friends, social groups, photos, flirting even…and then brands waded in and we started to think about ‘likes’ and the idea of our ‘favourite’ brands being part of our social lives. But what’s the difference between a ‘like’ in the digital world and really liking and engaging with a brand’s digital presence?

This is a question which the cheese category has started to answer with aplomb.

That’s why we were delighted to discuss the prominence and prevalence of cheese in social media – why are so many brands investing in it and why is it successful given the seeming lack of connection between a lump of cheese and a social network? The Grocer’s December ‘Focus On – Cheese’ article discusses just this.

As ever, the key with any successful digital strategy is not to just ‘go digital’ for the sake of it but to use digital channels in a way that is relevant to your product, your audience and the relationship between the two.  And it turns out…cheese is well suited to the digital world. It’s a simple, familiar product that is easy to have fun with: people add their own touch to cheese and have a wide range of emotional memories and associations with it purely for the versatile and often omnipresent role it plays in their lives and fridges.

As I’m quoted saying:

‘At first simply having a Facebook page was enough. Now it’s about a real conversation, not just lip service.’

So…whether your brand is cheesey or not…is your digital strategy being used to maximum impact? Get in touch if we can help you think about it in a tastier, more relevant way.

It’s always interesting when you see a format or recipe twist to a category that renews its relevance and comes across as part of a broader trend.

This is exactly what we’ve seen with the sexiest of all comfort foods – rice pudding.

Giles Lury has commented on this article in The Grocer regarding the ‘cold comfort’ consumers seem to be getting in the chilled-to-heat desserts category which was previously the preseve of tins:

“It’s about taking the stodge out of comfort foods…The black-packaged indulgent Rachel’s rice puddings, for example, are perceived as more of a comforting dessert than old-fashioned cans.”

Other brands and chefs have jumped on this trend: Think Heston’s funky twists on Christmas Classics and the never-ending sway of a simple cupcake.

So…what are the cold comforts you’ll be enjoying this Christmas?