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Archives - Posts tagged as 'Design'

Are you still using Consumer-Generated Content?Posted September 25th

Influx had a great post the other day about the fading use of consumer generated content in advertising and other marketing functions. They make a point of where we are going with online social/virtual worlds is exactly the opposite of where marketing and advertising firms are headed.

They then state something brilliant:

The killer application is finding a way to tap into consumer thinking and creativity through the social network, but to do it in a way that doesn’t involve classical advertising.

Agencies need to find a way to make this happen for their clients or someone else will.

If you view some of the top Facebook applications, I think a lot of people are getting close to what Influx is stating is necessary for brands to tap in to consumer-generated creativity and content. This is a very exciting time and it feels like a wide open market for advertisers, marketers, and even small brands to make a huge splash.

Anybody have a favorite Facebook application or widget that demonstrates what Influx is stating above? Something getting away from classical advertising?

 Tagged as Internet, Marketing, Design, Branding, Business | No Comments » | Continue linkarrow

Alife NYC; Effortlessly CoolPosted September 17th

Alife Timberland CollaborationAlife, the ultra-hip and ultra-exclusive brand/boutique in Manhattan's Lower East Side puts their indisputable standard of cool on their own line of footwear, as well as, revitalize other brands such as Puma and Timberland (image attached is of their recent Timberland collaboration). The brand has been around quite a while now, but I'm still intrigued to see them continuing to release collaborations and their own product lines to mass hysteria. Marc Jacobs said the following:
If you want to get inspired, visit the Alife headquarters on New York's Orchard Street. What looks like a shoe store is also the realization of the late-night plan that so many talk about, fewer attempt, and even fewer achieve. Rob Cristofaro, Arnaud De Le Colle, Tony Arcabascio, and Tammy Brainard (from left) met five years ago, saved and invested the same amount, and became equal partners in the venture that does what it likes, including art direction, curating (with artists like Shepard Fairey), book publishing (of Ryan McGuinness), a maiden shoe line called Rite Foot (to be carried at Colette in Paris and Los Angeles' KBond), and a lot of other stuff that there isn't room to mention. And they're all 30.
Six things that help keep Alife cool:
  1. Collaborate with large brands (Puma, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Levi's) on special products in a win-win situation for both
  2. Support smaller creative musicians, cutting-edge artists, and filmmakers
  3. Keep their products rare and limited, promote heavily
  4. All their products/collaborations are in their creative control from start to finish (no outsiders)
  5. Keep the product simple, but all details matter
  6. Feature/distribute their product in only a handful of the coolest stores around the world
 Tagged as Fashion, Design, Branding, Business | No Comments » | Continue linkarrow

Facebook Product PlacementPosted September 12th

Facebook Skittles Gum GiftToday, Skittles threw a bit of a curve ball by partnering with Facebook for the first time and allowing users to send a gift (tiny tokens of appreciation, that live on your profile and usually cost a dollar). The gift, their new Skittles Gum, was free (very important to the success of the campaign) and limited only to 250,000. However, this gift is not real, edible, or fun at all — it's just a damn icon/graphic! This may sound a little ludicrous to anybody over 21 (hell, anybody over 10), but I can't help but notice that they did a great job cleverly announcing their new product in front of a large amount of people within seconds. By giving it a limited edition, it had to make users feel the product was exclusive or worthy. Also, allowing users to send it to a friend, had to make users feel the brand valued their relationships (important with the Gen-Y). By the end of the day, the gift "Sold Out" (meaning all 250,000 were given away) and a minor buzz was created. Furthermore, speaking to several peers, most we're quite disgusted with Facebook. As Facebook continues to reach for new revenue streams, especially with advertising, they hurt the user experience and their overall brand. Will this hurt them as it has MySpace? or will the community accept it? Tagged as Internet, Marketing, Design, Branding | 2 Comments » | Continue linkarrow

Typography Lies!Posted August 5th

Well if you haven't read Seth Godin's All Marketers are Liars, read it...now. This great book isn't technically about lying, but more about stories and the way companies craft these tales around their products so consumers feel connected emotionally and personally. However, I found it interesting to apply this concept to design. Most people don't realize that design can speak the same story, but hell of a lot quicker and stronger. Photos, colors, layout, and most importantly typography, all have an impact on the way the story is told to the consumers and since it is a visual medium it attacks the mind in a way a story would never be able to achieve. Furthermore, when walking around stores or surfing the internet, most products, services, and companies use typography so poorly that I'm surprised they are still around. The companies that seem to have most problems are start-ups. It make sense to cut costs early on, so start-ups will skip design when instead they should focus at least a little time and money in that area to get some solid typography and maybe a concrete color scheme. One example of somebody that follow this model would be Flickr, who uses some clean, easy to read typography, but didn’t blow their whole budget on pulling it off. Another example is a project we are working on here at Wise & Young, which is a confidential internet security company that affiliate markets all their services and products from their website. For each product and service on their website we branded them separately, but kept the entire look and feel connected to the overall company by using the same typography and color schemes. This created a sense that the company was a huge ... Tagged as Marketing, Design, Branding | No Comments » | Continue linkarrow

Adidas Acquires ReebokPosted August 4th

Well it was surprising to wake up this morning, flip on the computer, and see Adidas-Salomon announced today that it had agreed to acquire Reebok for $3.8 billion From my young consumer perspective and education in branding/business, I believe this is the only thing both companies could have done to compete with the ever powerful Nike. In my opinion, currently Nike is doing no wrong, except for maybe signing Kobe Bryant to a shoe deal. Kobe Bryant brings the Nike brand down a few notches, but compared to both Adidas and Reebok, Nike is the strongest brand and over time will actually help Kobe Bryant's overall image and brand. Adidas and Reebok both have been close to reaching a perfect lifestyle product by focusing on other industries outside of sports, such as music and street life. They have also both been releasing vintage/old school shoes which have been increasingly popular in the trend world, but they still both couldn't get that hot product that would propel their prospective brand over Nike. Nike, to the naked eye, seems to stay out of the vintage lifestyle market with their own products, but when you dig deeper, you realize they have just as much of the market as Adidas and Reebok. Nike's brilliant idea two years ago to purchase Converse has allowed to them to compete with Adidas and Reebok in the vintage market, and in some cases, even beat them. For the new Adidas+Reebok company to compete with Nike, they have to continue to explore other markets, such as Reebok's innovative idea to sign rappers to their own shoes deals. The also have to focus on design, which in my opinion, Nike has a strangle-hold over all the other shoe companies. If Adidas+Reebok throws more money in to design ... Tagged as Design, Branding, Trends, Business | No Comments » | Continue linkarrow