MURKETING

Dept. of Random

Interstate Bakeries, maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, was ahead of the curve on the bankruptcy trend, going chapter 11 four years ago, way before it was cool. And earlier this month, again bucking the zeitgeist, the company emerged from bankruptcy! NPR assesses its chances of longterm viability here. September 17, 2006 Consumed about Wonder Bread’s promient role in Talladega Nights is here.

By way of being interviewed by box vox, I learned of the existence of Method Lust, a blog all about Method cleaning products. (Obviously it’s very pro the brand.) Method comes up a couple of times in Buying In, and was the subject of this February 29, 2004 Consumed. I’m also adding Method Lust to the Blogging The Brand section of the linkroll at right.

NYT had the latest private-labels-and-the-recession article (also picked up by PSFK). Wrapup of Consumed columns on private labels, with context, here.

Photojojo offers resources to those morning the death of Polaroid. March 16, 2008 Consumed on Polaroid here.

Makezine on Moleskine modification. June 26, 2005 Consumed on Moleskines — featuring the ultimate resource on the  subject, Moleskinerie — is here.

Edward Winkleman, a gallerist and thoughtful of observer of the art business interviewed for this August 3, 2008 Consumed about KAWS, announces his forthcoming book, How To Start And Run a Commercial Gallery.

Dept. of Random

Salon interviews Jessica Helfand on her Scrapbooks book here (via Scrap Smack). September 12, 2008 Consumed on scrapbooking then and now, here. April 4, 2004 Consumed on “Memory Maker” scrapbook-culture-inspired bracelets here.

Wow, I don’t know how I’m so late on this but I see that Nic Harcourt has left KCRW, where he was music director for ten years. Here’s a Consumed about KCRW’s online efforts, from January 23, 2005. Back in around 2003, I wrote about various KCRW DJs, including Harcourt, dabbling in the music-direction business, particularly for commercials, for a magazine that no longer exists. So no link on that.

Animal says ESPO “created a line of yellow raincoats with imagery devised to represent a ‘metaphor for protection,’ many of which were reportedly ‘given to and worn by actual prostitutes’ as part of an exhibit the former vandal created for French fast crowd boutique Colette to highlight World Aids Day.” October 30, 2005 Consumed on ESPO (and yellow raincoats!) here.

Coolhunting says Barackist art popular at Art Basel: “Throughout Miami, Mr. Obama was seemingly everywhere, as works featuring his likeness were given prominence by exhibitors.” Andrew Andrew posts an Obamart gallery of images they saw at the Miami art-a-thon. [ALSO: Looks like Giant Robot‘s next cover story is “Street Art + Obama.” Consumed on Obama as muse from April 13, 2008 is here.

CNN.com reports on Polaroid fans coping as the film disappears. (Via Design Observer.) March 18, 2008 Consumed on Polaroid’s journey from the mass to the fringe is here.

PSFK interviews Abe Burmeister about his Outlier cycling apparel brand (noted earlier), here.

Uniwatch impresario Paul Lukas’ ESPN.com column highlights the new No Mas “Finisher Bags” (picture here). Expansive Murketing.com Q&A with No Mas here and here.

Dept. of Random

Coolhunting posts some images of KAWS’ show at Gering & López Gallery. August 3, 2008 Consumed on KAWS’ move into the traditional gallery world is here.

NYT says “In Leaner Times, Online Coupons Are Catching On,” and in another story, “This Season’s Must-Have: The Humble Coupon.” July 27, 2008 Consumed on this subject is here.

NPR assesses “Recesssion Wear,” meaning clothes from thrift stores. November 21, 2008 Consumed on Goodwill here.

Disquiet, which pretty much owns the Buddha Machine beat, brings news of the Buddha Machine iPhone app.

Core77 reports on winners of a Muji design contest. Some interesting stuff. January 9, 2005 Consumed on Muji here.

More on bands and brands

I don’t know much about The Fray. But when they cut a deal with ABC, they are not kidding around. Not only did they debut their newest single on [edit: a promo for Lost during — see comments] Grey’s Anatomy (“Viewers will be directed to abc.com, where they can find a three-minute version of the clip as well as a link to iTunes; there they can buy the single, which goes to radio the next day”), Billboard reports:

The partnership between ABC and the Fray … also includes an agreement for the band to appear on the American Music Awards, “Good Morning America” and the outdoor concert series on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” ABC will use “You Found Me” as the promo song for this season of “Lost,” and discussions are underway to use the band’s music on sister channel ESPN during the height of football season.

Wow. I guess somebody still believes network TV can move product!

[Via Songs For Soap.]

Dept. of Random

Josh Rubin of Coolhunting fame has crossed over from chronicler to creator with his first product: Freehands, gloves with a fold-back thumb to let you text in the cold…

Abe Burmeister of Abstract Dynamics fame has launched Outlier: clothing for cycling in the city; check it out, you urban cyclers …

Deep Glamour interview Debbie Milman; I thought I’d added Deep Glamour to the linkroll, but hadn’t, so I’m adding it now under Design/Style/Aesthetics, and adding Milman’s site too, while I’m at it. (I wish DG would add its “Quick Links” to its RSS feed.) … More fresh links on the roll coming soon…

Krink gets fresh attention from Core77 and The Dieline. Feb 24, 2008 Consumed on Krink here. …

The Buddha Machine’s new version gets attention from Boing Boing, and Disquiet has a quite good Q&A with the device’s co-creator; July 29, 2007 Consumed on earlier version of Buddha Machine here …

Ad Age‘s always-interesting Marketing 50 came out this week, and here are some of the entries that caught my eye: Flip Video (May 25, 2008 Consumed on Flip here); P&G’s Pur Flavor Options, which I’ll have to look into, let me know if you have thoughts; Honest Tea (July 3, 2005 Consumed on Honest Tea here; related Murketing post here); Vitaminwater (August 22, 2004 Consumed here); Rihanna umbrellas, which I mentioned on Murketing and probably should have written about in Consumed, but another part of the Times had already sort of covered it; and Carol’s Daughter, a brand I’ve eyed for a long time and considered writing about, but I’ve never quite been convinced; have to give it a fresh look….

More timelessness

Here’s the latest chapter in my ongoing coverage of counterfunctional watches — meaning watches that do a bad job telling you what time it is, or no job at all, but have some kind of other aesthetic and/or identity payoff (see related Consumed; related Murketing posts; related links):

It took me a minute to figure out what was going on here, but Etsy seller belleslettres‘ Fake Watch Collection is made of magazine images of watches, laminated, with a snap closure. It’s a wearable picture of a watch. Obviously they don’t tell time, but at $15 or so, are cheaper than the real-world Rolexes and so on that they depict.

Via The Storque.

Diddy says election reveals the fragrance we need

Regarding his new product, a fragrance called “I Am King” ($57), he tells WSJ:

“When you see Barack Obama, you see a strong, elegant black man and when people see my ad, it’s almost like that’s the trend.”

Riiiiiiighhhhhht.

[Consumed on earlier Diddyscent is here. ]

To Do in NYC: KAWS

Back in August, I did a Consumed about KAWS, noting that having established himself as a successful artist, he was starting to get, somewhat belatedly, actual gallery shows. One of those shows opened on November 6, and runs through December 23, at Gering & López Gallery in NYC. More info here.

Domo v. Target = End of Domo?

Brandweek said recently (9/15/2008 issue, but  I can’t find a link to the story) that Target is making Domo a centerpiece of its Halloween promotional efforts.

Erik Nakamura declares Domo is now dead, backs up his argument with pictures.

[Domo licensing was the subject of this July 22, 2007 Consumed.]

More on scrapper motives

For those of you who read this past weekend’s Consumed about the changing motivations of scrapbookers over time, here’s a follow up: Scrap Smack asks its readers who they scrap for: Do you scrap for relaxation, the creative process, the pure enjoyment of it? Or do you scrap for other reasons? For yourself, for your family, for future generations, for business?”

I scrap for myself, but I must admit when my children drag out their books to show their friends I am proud. I am proud that they want to show their friends what Mommy has done. I am proud when I receive compliments, after all it’s only human to want recognition for a job well done and for talents you may have.

Scrap Smack posts always get a lot of comments, and they’re piling up fast at this one.

Meanwhile: More Barackist creativity to come…

As we know, not everybody sees Obama as the antichrist. So here’s a more prObama bit of news following up on the subject of the candidate as muse (per April 13, 2008 Consumed):

The Obey blog announces Manifest Hope:

It’s a new Obama art contest for 2D and 3D art, from painting to photography to sculpture. The winners will be shown at the Manifest Hope Gallery online and in Denver during the Democratic convention alongside works from dozens of established and influential artists.

And, via this meditation in The Stranger on the Obama-as-muse phenomenon, I am now aware of a blog dedicated to the subject: The Obama Art Report. Worth a look.

Not sure if there’s any scripture linking the rapture to art, design, and stylish product, but if so — oh, never mind.

A little more on art, galleries, and the marketplace

Thanks to all who came out to Politics & Prose last night (and to Becca and Mike), a good time was had by, if not all, than certainly most.

I’m traveling home today and will again be a little too distracted to do much here on Murketing.com, but wanted to pass one thing along as a follow-up to last Sunday’s KAWS column. In that column I mentioned Edward Winkleman’s blog* as a source of reasonable and clear discussion of the too-often mystifying art gallery world. He’s posted a good set of additional thoughts about artists going solo vs. working with a gallery. Check out the whole thing, but here’s a snippet: In addition to the marketplace motivations I mentioned, a gallery show can

perhaps most importantly, provide a context in which not only solo exhibitions can garner press but an artist’s work can be supported against bad press or misunderstandings on the part of the public. The program at most contemporary art galleries is an ongoing dialog about what’s important in today’s art world. Within that context, an artist can perhaps afford to take some risks that wouldn’t make sense without an exhibition space dedicated to their latest ideas, get feedback on them, and return the studio to hammer them out. I’m not sure that’s as possible in museums or other exhibition spaces as it is in many galleries. Yes, I know, the general meme is that galleries are often worse because they’ll only exhibit what they know they can sell. I think that describes a small percentage of the galleries most of us would consider good ones though.

[* PS: thanks to E for tipping me off to Winkleman’s blog in the first place.]

Noted: Kalin’s new Etsy role

Oh, and I meant to mention this earlier: Robert Kalin, who you may recall from the Handmade 2.0 article (and/or from Buying In), has moved from CEO to chairman and Chief Creative Officer at Etsy.

This comes around six months earlier than I  might have guessed, but I don’t think it’s a surprise — and I suspect it’s a good thing for all concerned. It’s certainly not unusual for a founder to conclude that s/he doesn’t really want to remain CEO as a startup grows. But very often coming to that realization takes too long — or, worse, never comes, and the person is forced out.

I don’t know anything about Maria Thomas, the new CEO. So with that significant caveat, I would guess this is a good thing for the company, and for Kalin as well. (I haven’t talked to him or anybody at Etsy about this. If I do and hear anything interesting, will pass it along.)

Here’s the NYT item about it, including Kalin’s nail-polish choice for making the announcement. Earlier Silicon Alley Insider item here. Etsy VC backer here; Kalin post here.

Imaginary Brand News: Genco Pura

Here at Murketing HQ, we’re particularly fond of one of the newer offerings from Last Exit To Nowhere (a November 17, 2007, Consumed subject).

This time around the imaginary brand is Genco Pura, “the finest Sicilian olive oil.” As you may know, this is a business formed by Mr. Vito Corleone — although it turned out that he had an number of, you know, other interests.

There’s a “continental ladies fitted” version as well.

How can you refuse?

Consumed Update-O-Rama: Bankruptcy, murketing, collaboration

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve done a Consumed updates roundup, but three things came across the radar that I’ll note here at all at once.

1. Re the March 11, 2007 Consumed on the Starbury, sold exclusively through Steve & Berry’s: Steve Berry’s has filed for bankruptcy!

This surprised me: Turns out the mall-based super-discount chain has been in trouble for some months now, apparently owing to a debt management strategy that didn’t hold up in the current credit-challenged environment.

I’d been under the impression that shrewd real estate deals were a big part of the chain’s success. And on my couple of visits to a nearby Steve & Berry’s (admittedly, it’s been a while) consumer traffic was brisk. I guess I would have assumed that its reverse-sticker shock cheapness would have benefited the place in the current slow economy.

I guess not! Debt management is another one of those subjects that gets little coverage because it’s not particularly sexy (and because companies tend not to be forthcoming about it) — yet it can mean a lot more to the success or failure of a business than any amount of press coverage or any number of celebrity alignments.

I’m not sure if this turn of events makes me look bad … but it might. If it does, well, I have no excuses. Mea culpa.

2. Re the February 27, 2005 Consumed on the Victoria’s Secret Pink brand: Ad Age has a piece that says the “thriving” sub-brand is approaching $1 billion revenues. The piece also notes the newest Pink push will be “supported and promoted by a campus tour program and paid collegiate brand ambassadors.”

Pink is, for the first time, hiring two to three brand ambassadors at each of 15 campuses. Hundreds of résumés have been received, and the selected students will go through a training program in August to prepare them for the yearlong assignment.

In doing radio interviews for Buying In, every time the subject of word-of-mouth marketing comes up, either the host or a caller invariably says something like, “Oh, come on, how much of this is really happening?” A lot, okay? It’s routine. Especially (though not exclusively) for brands targeting youth. The “college rep” strategy that was maybe used by record labels a decade or two ago is now used by a wide range of consumer-products and apparel companies, basically signing up students to “get the word out” to their pals about brands. It’s an established tactic. It’s real. And it’ s just one facet of something that, I promise, I’m not making up.

3. Re the January 14, 2007 Consumed on Timbuk2, and the July 8, 2007 Consumed on Threadless: Timbuk2 has a line of bags with Threadless graphics on them. Via Josh Spear.