Small rentable spaces designed to allow busy workers the opportunity to get 40 winks while they’re out and about in the city have been around in countries such as Japan for a while – even London got its own sleep pods recently, courtesy of Podtime. Combining this concept with a try-before-you-buy twist, the eco furniture COCO-MAT store in New York has set up a hotel room-style space where customers can take a nap for free while also testing out the quality of their beds.

While other furniture companies might actively discourage customers from getting into their showroom beds, Greece-based COCO-MAT is enabling visitors to its outlet in New York City’s SoHo district to spend up to a couple of hours in its mock hotel suite, which features its Californian king-size bed, fresh linen, soothing music and a complimentary glass of juice. The brand also has a policy of ethical manufacturing – its beds are made of natural renewable materials and are produced in a sustainable manner, while the private bedroom is available to customers for free, unlike existing rental options. Speaking to MailOnline, founder Paul Efmorfidis said: “I have no trouble if they misuse [the service]. If you come here with your friends for a handful of naps and don’t buy anything, that’s OK.” His reasoning is that the free sleep service will get customers talking about the store with friends and Mr Efmorfidis believes that the next time they need a mattress, the first place they will think of is COCO-MAT. Customers can book themselves into the sleep suite or walk in if it is vacant. To top it off, every store serves free juice, espresso and Greek food to customers at lunchtimes.

COCO-MAT’s nap room offers free a service (where others charge) at the same time as allowing customers to try out their products. The brand believes this will increase customer engagement even if they don’t intend to buy. Could you adopt similar thinking to change the way customers think about and interact with your business?

Website: www.coco-mat.com
Contact: www.coco-mat.com/?i=coco_us.en.contact

Spotted by: Petz Scholtus

Much the way recipients of German Qkies can scan the QR code on each cookie to be directed to a video, photo or personalized message, so Greek consumers can use augmented reality and a Lacta chocolate bar to convey a secret message to a friend.

Thanks to a free Android and iPhone mobile application by OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens, Greek consumers can use their phone to send a message to a friend via any chocolate bar from Kraft Foods’ Lacta brand. They begin by composing the message on the Lacta app, which also shows how it will appear on a Lacta bar. Next, they select the name of the friend they’d like to send it to from their list on Facebook. Finally, the recipient receives a Facebook notification, and once they download the app, the camera of their phone automatically turns on and can be used to reveal the message on any Lacta chocolate bar. The video demonstrates the Lacta app in action:

It’s one thing to offer a service whereby consumers can order personalized products for each other, but using augmented reality for entirely private messaging opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Consumer brands around the globe: be inspired!

Website: lacta.ourwork.gr/mobile/v2/en
Contact: contact.kraft-hosting.net/lacta.gr/?language=el&domain=lacta.gr&subject=Lacta%20GR

Spotted by: Judy McRae

The march of the upcycling initiatives continues! Hard on the heels of our stories about Diana Eng’s “fortune cookie” purses and Rerip’s surfboard-recycling program comes word of Yiuco, an online marketplace that focuses exclusively on products created through upcycling, recycling and reuse.

Greek Yiuco only allows items to be listed if they are upcycled, recycled or reused, allowing eco-minded minipreneurs to create an individual storefront and list the goods they’d like to sell. Examples currently listed on the site include wearable rings featuring individual keys from a computer keyboard, for example, as well as a pillow crafted from upcycled materials. Shoppers can search the site by product category as well as by whether goods involve primarily upcycling, recycling or reuse. Creating a store on Yiuco is free, and there are no transaction or listing fees until spring 2011. Thereafter, Yiuco will charge vendors EUR 0.10 per listed item every three months as well as a 3.5 percent transaction fee on each sale.

Besides the obvious lustre of sustainability, of course, makers of upcycled and recycled products can also enjoy the benefits of free or inexpensive materials and an embedded story to be shared with consumers. No end in sight to the opportunities here; minipreneurs around the globe — time to get crafting! (Related: T-shirts saved with handstitched lettering & sold to new owners — Festival jackets & bags made from abandoned tents — Five businesses that turn trash into appealing new products.)

Website: www.yiuco.com
Contact: hello@yiuco.com

Spotted by: V. Rentzou

Hotels are increasingly embracing green practices as a way to set themselves apart, so it only makes sense to see a portal emerge that aims to help eco-minded consumers find them. GreenHotels, in fact, serves not only as a portal and booking engine promoting eco-hotels in Greece, but it even scores those hotels on the “greenness” of their approach.

To be included in the GreenHotels network, hotels must have implemented operational systems and methods that are eco-oriented and they must have applied principles of environmental management. Eco-minded practices in use should target water savings, waste reduction, energy footprint and locally sourced products, among other areas. Based on their performance on those criteria, each hotel is given an overall score and classified as a full-fledged “Eco Hotel” — the named used for those with the best scores — or as “Eco Class” A, B or C. Prospective guests can then search the GreenHotels site by map, keyword or the “greenness” level they’re looking for. Once they find one they like, they can book directly through the GreenHotels site.

GreenHotels is the brainchild of Greek mSolutions. Who will help environmentally conscious travelers find like-minded hotels in other parts of the world…? (Related: Hotel rewards visitors for smart transportation choices — Five innovative hotel concepts — From 12 tons of trash, a pop-up hotel with a message.)

Website: www.greenhotels.gr
Contact: info@greenhotels.gr

Spotted by: Sotiris Milonas

Back in 2006, we covered an ancient commodity that was being marketed in a fresh way—mastiha, made from resin of the mastic tree, which is mainly cultivated on the Greek island of Chios. As we pointed out, mastiha (or mastic) is used in a wide variety of products, and Mastihashops—founded by the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association—carry everything from mastiha-flavoured coffee, biscuits and liqueur, to toothpaste, cosmetics and chewing gum. All well-branded and sleekly packaged.

So we were pleased to hear that Mastihashop has made it to New York, its first retail outpost west of Greece. The shop, located at 145 Orchard Street, was opened by two sisters, Artemis and Kalliopi Kohas, who spent many childhood summers on Chios. The New York store sells an extensive range of edible goods and skincare products, from the raw material—’tears’ of mastic resin—to mastiha eye cream. Naturally, there’s still plenty of room for mastiha expansion. Sao Paulo or Singapore, anyone?

Website: www.mastihashop.com
Contact: info@mastihashopny.com

There’s a new premium commodity in town, and its name is mastiha. Those of you with no ties to the Eastern Mediterranean or the Middle-East are forgiven for not knowing exactly what mastiha, or mastic gum, is. It’s a product of the mastic tree, which is mainly cultivated on Chios, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Small cuts are made in the bark of the tree, the sap seeps out and congeals into ‘tears’ of resin, which are harvested and cleaned by hand.

The resinous result has been popular and highly valued in the region for thousands of years, and was traded from Venice to Damascus. More than just a sticky flavouring, mastiha is cherished for its antibacterial properties, used to reduce tooth plaque and treat gastric ulcers. It was once considered so precious that countries fought for the right to control its cultivation. (The ancients were very fond of mastic chewing gum.)

Flash forward 20 centuries, and welcome to modern Greece, where the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association started Mastihashop to stimulate demand for its produce. Mastiha is used in a wide variety of products, and Mastihashops carry everything from mastiha-flavoured coffee, biscuits and liqueur, to toothpaste, cosmetics and chewing gum. All well-branded and sleekly packaged.

There are currently seven Mastihashops in Greece. But the cooperative-formed retailer has its eye on international expansion: both in the Middle-East, where mastiha is a familiar ingredient, and in the west, where the fragrant and exotic product has yet to catch on. Unlike olive oil or sea salt, Mastiha’s hand-made and uber-local character ensure a lasting degree of exclusivity. The medicinal properties and nice branding can’t hurt, either. Time to enquire about distribution and franchising?

Website: http://www.mastihashop.gr
Contact: info@mastihashop.com