We had to do some consumer research for a project with bike messenger bag maker Timbuk2 so we went to the store in Hayes Valley (they moved from The Mission - Nuff said). The creative brief rocked, they followed our recommendations. Now we chart the change.
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It’s electrifying to test your idea in the market for the first time and get the undeniable feedback that it is culturally relevant and resonant. Look at the smirk of satisfaction on Busta’s face. Gotta be country specific in the next remix because Dubai is a wrap.
Nota Bene:
Did he change his name from Busta Rhymez to Busta Rhymes? Great re-branding decision. Z’s for S’s are so 90′z. And did he change the song to be more culturally sensitive? The God is smart.
After the pendulum swings, Obamania deflates and Americans see how difficult and liberating life Change was, would they then feel free enough to switch parties? Here’s a strong case study for a Republican Party Re-Branding.
The SoMa neighborhood was gentrified out of Filipino hands.
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I dug this audio interview from my media archive (a shoebox of cassette tapes). It features a very candid interview I did with Shep in 1999 for my Masters Thesis. The Thesis focused on designers that use traditional advertising techniques to push social, subversive and/or anti-consumerist messages. This interview features an earnest sounding, pre-talking point Shep, before he went superdupernova. Here’s a segment, the full transcribed interview can be found in the Thesis pdf here.
Deuce Gangsta made the song What About The Move? back in 2005. The song’s authentic rawness inspired us to shoot a video for it in January 07. We had an unrelated meeting with the creative resources manager at MRM (the agency of record for Verizon) in June 07. During our meeting the creative resources manager sent samples of our work to the Creative Director for the Verizon account. The Verizon/Samsung Juke Phone commercial (above) first aired in October 07. We don’t blame Verizon nor do we blame Samsung - they should get their money back from MRM. We do hold the Creative Director, the Director and the Art Director who were inspired enough by our hard work to bite our style and use our video as ‘reference.’ Sadly, in the advertising industry this happens all the time. Ultimately, it’s a small thing to a Giant, and we have stacks upon stacks of ideas - next time call us and we might sell you one. In the meantime we find solace in the words of the great Raekwon the Chef and Ghostface Killah:
A lot of planning and money is invested in the real estate above the fold in the NYT. This movie ad takes up more space than the front page feature photo and has run alongside DNC coverage every day this week.
“Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Out to Get You”.
As a result of my daily, rigorous cultural research (youtube, facebook & random RSS feeds) I was reminded of a re-occurring theme in Hip-Hop videos of the 1990’s: young brown men running from authority figures: police officers, security guards and other young brown men who posed as perceived or real threats. Did this theme come from the reality of an increased level of crime in the 90’s only to disappear in the streets and on screen in the next decade? A possible link to Freakonomics & Black Swan theories? Or was it just a Director’s aesthetic preference? In either case, what has this theme been replaced by and why? I have an idea of what it has been replaced by therefore, it follows that the artists involved in making these images today are either now very wealthy or no longer interested in reflecting their community’s reality.
I am both an Apple fanatic and a creative strategist in the advertising industry, but I still reserve the right to choose when I follow a brand blindly.
“A third of iPhone users carry a second phone. There have been anecdotal reports of iPhone users carrying a second mobile phone, either for basic voice calling, or for other functions like composing e-mail. The survey confirmed those reports. (Page 20.)”
That’s because there are no buttons on the damn thing! Humans are still tactile creatures no matter how futuristic we strive to be. The multitouch keyboard is a glimpse of the future but it should be an extra feature on the iPhone until we are able to think our email responses directly into our phones (btw cats at TI & MIT have a prototype device for that).
Microsoft is helping connect iPhone users to MS Exchange Server so Apple can get some of that corporate business, but you can’t possibly write long documents or detailed emails with that touchpad - this is why people are keeping their other phones.
Are Tweens still what’s hot in youth marketing? It’s difficult to keep up:
“One problem about a consultant-dominated field is that consultants build fame by coining and popularizing new concepts. Just at the point that a few customers might be starting to grasp the fact that they need more than pretty colours and flashy widgets to help their customers, the consultants realize that their pitch is no longer differentiated. So they need to invent a new term.” -Adina Levin
