It really seems to me that we don’t provide enough access for disabled people to things we take for granted.

Well, hopefully this tool from Inclusion Solutions will be one more step in the right direction.

“Quick serves regularly serve more than 50 percent of their business through the drive thru. But according to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are an estimated 36 million deaf and hearing-disabled people in the U.S. who are left without that option.

The OrderAssist includes a button that hearing-impaired customers press, informing employees that they’ll be pulling forward and ordering at the window on a print-out menu. Most drive thrus “force [deaf] people to use a system that doesn’t work for them,” says Patrick Hughes Jr., founder and CEO of Inclusion Solutions.”

Pop Up Lifestyle™ is about providing for people in their comfort zones so they don’t have to go out of their way to get to your product, business or service. Perhaps you don’t even know how many of your differently abled customers are unable to “get to you”, or give up because it’s too hard.

Every whopper and fries will be hand-delivered to your door within 30 minutes or less using “new delivery packaging technology” engineered to keep your food warm from the grill to your gullet.”

Ok I’m gonna go against the grain here. Every article I’ve read about Burger King exploring home delivery has been fairly negative. Eg: “Just what this country needs: a Whopper and fries delivered to its front door.” or “disastrous for a country struggling with an ever-expanding collective waistline.”

Look, I know we have an obesity problem but I don’t think it rests solely the QSR industry to fix it.  There’s many factors at play – especially psychological and societal reasons. Furthermore, where’s the personal responsibility? You don’t have to dial that delivery line!

Here’s a recent study that found that the highest percentage of fast food customers are actually middle class families with fast paced and activity-packed lifestyles… Not the poor and unhealthy, as many people think is the case.

Here’s a blog I wrote about that.

This is a perfect example of Pop Up Lifestyle™. It’s literally fulfilling the Human Truth™ which is: “Meet me where I am.”™ You may think I’m not railing on this because I can be lazy sometimes and I love Whoppers. Fair enough. Like I said, you don’t have to dial the number. I personally wont dial it all the time, but for that “once in a while moment” when I don’t want to get dressed and leave my comfort zone- I’m all for it!

The study, which is published online in Population Health Management, shows that fast-food dining actually becomes more common when earnings increase from low to middle incomes. And the reason seems to be a case of Pop Up Lifestyle™, where the Human Truth™ is: “Meet me where I am.”™

“the fast-food industry attracts the middle class by locating restaurants right off freeways in middle-income areas and by offering products that appeal to a large proportion of Americans. “Low prices, convenience, and free toys target the middle class — especially budget-conscious, hurried parents — very well,”

There you have it. Overwrought soccer moms, tired dads, crying kids that want a toy. In other words, convenience. When you pull into a drive thru, it’s usually because that’s the easiest option, and importantly, you know what you’re going to get. No surprises or disappointment. Pop Up lifestyle™ is about meeting consumers in their comfort zones. The middle class seems to want quick, easy and above all cheap solutions right now.  Does your product, service or brand make Mom & Dad’s life easier?

Roqbot; has just launched in participating LA bars. It’s a smart phone app that is basically a digital jukebox, that allows bar patrons to peruse 6 million tracks and pick music without leaving their booth.

“The basics are pretty simple: when you get to the bar (more and more are signing up each day!), check in (a la Foursquare) and search their extensive cloud music service (plus Last.fm, iTunes, and Facebook favorite bands) for the song of your choice, pop it into the queue, and wait for all the other patrons to start a slow clap as soon as they hear the first few bars. But wait, there’s more: you can also gain credits towards moving your song up the list via options like giving an email address, rounding up votes from other patrons, or dropping cash, plus while you’re scrolling through songs, you can see exclusive, Roqbdot-only drink specials displayed by the bar.”

This is a great example of entertainment that is pure Pop Up Lifestyle™

The Human Truth™ of the Pop Up Lifestyle™ wave is: “Meet me where I am.” It’s about bringing the product or service directly to the customer, in this case right to their dining booth. The essence of this wave, and really, the essence of this idea too is: Intersecting the consumer in their comfort zones.

Well the founder of Flip Video is using his tech experience to make  it easier for people to get the most time out of a lunch hour. Pop Up Lifestyle’s™ Human Truth™ is “Meet me where I am.”™ And for most of us that means behind a computer or on our smartphones.  The Melt is a casual dining chain that all about “meeting us there” and expediting our lunch break.

“The custom mobile ordering app “that allows customers to remotely place a meal order from their computer or mobile phone and pick it up.  When ordered via the mobile application, the customer will receive a QR code on their smartphone that can be scanned at any restaurant location, allowing them to pay through their phones, skip the line, and pick up their freshly made order within minutes.”

They plan to open 500 of the grilled cheese themed restaurants over the next five years.  Yum, by the look of that sandwich I’d be really happy about getting that cheesy goodness asap!

We all know that the food truck craze really has wheels right now… pun intended.  So it’s definitely novel that Trojan is doing this, but not surprising to me.

Trojan’s “Good Vibrations” truck will be showing up in NYC nite life hot spots and will be handing out condoms and vibrating rings and will be promoting a new product mysteriously called the “vibrating Twister.”

This Trojanmobile is classic Pop Up Lifestyle™ where the Human Truth™ is:  “Meet me where I am”.

As people spill out of the bar late at night, they are going to be receptive to this kind to promotion.  In fact, they will probably thankful that Trojan has saved them a trip to the drug store if they’ve gotten lucky!!

“The Innaugural Annual Food Truck Chow Down is Los Angeles’ biggest foodtruck spectacular that will showcase over 50 of LA’s best foodtrucks in a festive food and fun filled event your whole family can enjoy. Also featuring over 40 vendors, live music performances, an acoustic tent, beer & wine gardens, art and rare car displays, plus carnival games and electronic gaming truck for the kids. Hosted for the first time ever by the Los Angeles State Historic Park, over 10,000 attendees are expected to take part and savor the tastiest grub that Southern California’s most iconic foodtrucks have to offer.”

I’m excited!  LA has taken the food truck trend to awesome new levels.  There really are some amazing food innovations happening here.  I was lucky enough to visit Yamishiro’s Gourmet Farmer’s Market last week and I was blown away by the food vans there.  I sampled a duck confit taco with blood orange agave salsa and wasabi guacamole… in a word: DIVINE.  I had one of the most refreshing and tasty beverage ever: jasmine tea and pulverized watermelon over crushed ice with freshly chopped mint.  My friend tried the inspired“lasangne cupcake” and  I’m already planning to return to sample the other vans we didn’t get to.

Pop-up lifestyle™ is about MAXIMIZING ACCESSIBILITY.  Now that the “roach coach” stigma has been well and truly vanquished as far as food trucks go, we are seeing some of the most exciting food come to us in a convenient and casual way.  It’s fair to say that some people are intimidated by fine dining and here is a way that people can sample gourmet fare in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.  As the Pop Up Lifestyle™ Human Truth™ says:  “Meet me where I am”.

Well, burger and taco joint Jack In The Box has “hit the road”.

“The 34-foot-long truck debuts next Friday in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, where it will roam for the next month before heading to Orange County and Los Angeles, reports 10news.com.”

One might think it’s a weird move considering they have over 900 brick-and-mortar locations in California, but I think it might work well.  Especially if they tie in the other food van trend of twitter/ Facebook location updates. I could also see this being popular at festivals and sporting events.

Their humorous reimagining of the 70’s style airbushed van art would definitely turn heads on a freeway.

All in all, this is probably a relatively inexpensive way to promote the restaurant, as well a novel way to “meet me where I am”™

This new push for “Social Gaming” has flipped game design on it’s ear; Instead of alien invasions, epic stories and multitudes of weapons, we have games that mimic real life. Cooking games, farming games, simulations; these are the most popular games to date, and they not only mimic real life but they enhance (and in some cases strengthen) our newly minted online personas that make their homes across social networks and services.

Many companies are predicting that very soon someone will devise a Social Game that pulls in a billion annually.

My bet is on a jar opening simulation.

Enter Sears’ Zombie department. Yes, it’s a seasonal promotion, but it’s also touching on a brilliant idea that they could take advantage of. Why not have pop up departments in your store? Change some of the departments monthly, or quarterly to reflect pop culture! For a few months we could have a few Gaga isles, maybe a Twilight isle or two and hell, throw in some Bieber just for fun. The next quarter, they’re gone! Something new to discover awaits. I can’t wait for the Michael Jackson/TRON isles. God I hope there’s dance fighting. I do love dance fighting.