Container Homes – The Illegal Saviors of Economies And the Environment

The ports of many import-driven countries including the USA are filled with used shipping containers that are never shipped back to their original destinations.  Therefore considering the well-being of the environment, getting new ways of use for them is crucial. Building affordable homes for many families is the best option, but how to influence the local decision makers to offer building permits.

The valuable resources of used shipping containers will remain as an unused asset if the decision makers do not allow the installation of shipping container houses. The roots of the problem are not on the operational level, in other words,  in the daily application and inspection processes. In many countries there are protocols on how large, what colour or which material the houses in a specific suburb should be made of. The problem is that the standards do not say much about special building materials, let alone shipping containers.

The inspectors can only follow the protocol, that’s a fact. Therefore people should work on influencing the upper level authorities, unions and city councils.

Social media offers great tools for that. It is important that people keep on writing blogs about the benefits of shipping container architecture. It is also equally important to share other people’s work on social media. The optimum use of Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, WordPress  etc. enables the maximum reach of one’s work. Maximum reach implies that the content will eventually reach the decision makers or the people who influence them. Moreover, as we already analyzed in our former article, this industry develops really slowly, so all the counter measures should be designed for a long run.

 

Besides quality, quantity also counts. The decision makers also suffer from bounded rationality. Instead of only few experts, by social media they can be influences of thousands of experts, those who want to build affordable homes and to help to save the environment and the economy. Even though it sounds like a long shot but it’s still an implementable way.

Shanghai Metal Corporation also contributes to this good cause by creating content related to container architecture and sharing others’ work. SMC is a pioneer in providing shipping containers and container buildings for many countries. You can also join our social media communities.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and more reading in: Containerist, Biz Journals, Wikipedia, Baidu Image, Baco Enterprises

Play A Coke Lyric With Your Coke Bottle

It’s been 35 years since the Coca-Cola Company has been present in China. The company’s re-entry in China in 1979 followed the country’s economic opening after the Communist Party’s takeover. During the three decades of communism there were no foreign brands on Chinese soil. What existed of the Coke’s bottlers in 1949 were nationalized, and turned into the beverage of elites, which one could found at a few remaining exclusive hotels, if lucky enough.

Today, China is the company’s third-largest market, after the US and Mexico, respectively, to be its biggest any day soon. To create the company’s newest the Coke Lyric bottle campaign, Coca-Cola partnered with Isobar, a digital marketing agency. The new campaign features a QR code on the Coke bottle which can be scanned in WeChat in order to activate a short clip of the same lyrics on the bottle. Once scanned, the song can also be shared with friends on WeChat and other social platforms.

Coca-Cola has been taking advantage of social media and digital technology to help consumers connect with the brand, which ultimately increase sales. Isobar is calling these new digital objects ‘Musicons’, for musical emoticons. “The new ‘Musicons’ are to songs what tweets are to blogs. Sometimes a soundbite says it better,” said Tim Doherty, chief creative officer of Isobar China.

Embedding lyrics on Coke products is the new addition this year, following last year’s Nickname Coke campaign in China, where consumers had to decide which nickname to give to which person – “whatever nickname bottle you received, signaled how people identify you”, added Doherty.

Typically, a smartphone is used as a QR code scanner, displaying the code and converting it to some useful form (external Web site or social media page), where brands can exhibit a mix of content that showcases product use, perks or contests.

Shanghai Metal Corporation is proud to announce our newest mobile app by scanning our QR code.  o find out more about us, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook  and Instagram. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Sources: mobilemarketer.com

Pictures:

 

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Shakespeare Reborn in Container Theaters

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly follow’d.                   –a Quotation from Shakespeare’s Othello

The modularity of shipping containers enables creative architects to design beautiful container homes and hotels. Open top containers can be turned into swimming pools. Open side containers can become excellent theaters.

In 2013 a local architecture studio O+A designed the architectural setting of the 20th Over het IJ Festival and transformed Amsterdam’s shipyard into a huge restaurant area with theatrical stages. The building of the “container city” took four days, and another two days to take down, lasting only two weeks in between.

Shipping containers theaters have also been used in Miami. In 2012, the actors of Microteatro por Dinero  performed in 15 minute short dramas for 15 people six times a night in a shipping container. The concept of “por dinero performance” (in English for money) has its roots in Madrid where local actors turned an old bordello into a commercial mini theater and spread the word in social media.

Besides drama, shipping containers have also been used as movie theaters. Container mini theaters showed short films in New York in 2011. The event was a part of USA Network’s Character Project and it also was supported by the director of the Alien Saga, Ridley Scott. Audience was placed in 18-seat air conditioned screening pods to watch the shorts. The tour also took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

It is yet unclear when does this “Broadway in a box” concept spread globally and go mainstream. Still, because of these events, mobile mini theaters will gain popularity in cinema and drama industries.

Whenever there is a need for shipping containers, one should always contact Shanghai Metal Corporation. Our wide collection of shipping containers can help companies to pack great entertainment in a box. For more information about our shipping containers, please visit our website (http://www.smccontainer.com). Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: WLRN, N-punto, Broadway World, Gizmag, Wired, Miami New Times, Inhabitat, Oplusa.nl