Word of mouth is a byproduct of a remarkable culture.
this is the beginning and the end. it has to start somewhere. if you don’t have it - find it, create it, foster it. there is no shortcut here. if you can’t take the heat, get out of the fucking kitchen.
Secondly, the thing everyone wants to know: who thought up the chicken? Everyone makes a big mystery out of it, but if you ask me, the mystery is more about why everyone wishes it was a single person in an ah-ha moment. We get that a lot still. People want it to be dramatic. As if doing things methodically until you get a great idea is disappointing. As if coming up with a good idea should be easy.
The purist may not tell you want you want to hear, but the good PR folks — digital or otherwise — have the stones to give that “there ain’t no Santa Claus” kind of bad news.
The best ones develop a compelling solution.
The Q&A regarding personal branding.
this was a surprisingly good event. i was on-time and everything until i hopped out of the cab i took down there and promptly realized that it sped away with my phone. called 311 right away and filed a report. with things looking grim, i actually was in-line at the 92Y to check-in when kate told me to do the obvious (call my phone - i had my company Blackberry w/ me as well).
with that simple solution, i probably used up all my karma points for the month. the cabbie answered and told me to meet him a few blocks away.
about 15 minutes late, i slid-in during julia’s talk. straight-forward tactical branding advice. while mary watched julia’s dog next to me, loren then made some great points about a brand vs. one’s reputation and persona. he differentiated himself and his brand. one is scalable, the other is not. gary continued a similar trend. emphatic and expounding some points loren made as well as including some of his own. very similar to his popular Web2.0 keynote.
afterwards, did an interview for mediabistro on-demand then introduced myself to loren & michelle. would’ve loved to speak with the ladies but they bolted while julia was doing her on-demand stuff. also asked gary about a good wine for the woman who doesn’t like wine.
an evening well spent.
The best part about a brand like Johnny Cupcakes is that it’s neither here nor there, but it’s undoubtedly everywhere. A lot of my upper-echelon streetwear contemporaries deride the brand for being kitschy and soft (ironic considering a good chunk of their customers are Cupcakeheads. i.e. Look at the photos.) While more mainstream labels may not understand the limited-numbers approach to a basic t-shirt line. But that is why I’ve always respected and appreciated Johnny’s work, because he’s always done whatever he’s wanted to do with his line, paying no mind to the critics or the doubters, all the while listening intently to himself and his customers — who are ultimately the only ones who matter. At the end of the day, it’s this mentality that racks up the wins. (via The Hundreds : Blog» Blog Archive » JOHNNY! JOHNNY!! JOHNNY!!!)
always been a big fan - and customer - of johnny. i’ve been watching his brand develop into something huge and he’s done it exactly how a modern brand should be built. i would’ve linked to some of his posts sooner but (and maybe this is by design), i can’t. he’s hidden use of permalinks and kept the blog portion inclusive to the site and the rest of it’s content. what a trickster.
“By then, however, the show had settled into some semblance of order, with tens of thousands of white fists (apparently, the revolution will not be colorized) raised and pumping in unison, once again underscoring the unfortunate, frustrating limitations of Rage Against the Machine’s aggro approach to protest. However admirable or ambitious the band’s intent, the medium still brings out the lowest common denominator, and in the end manufacturing dissent and adrenaline in one fell swoop proves as self-defeating as it is thrilling.”
—Pitchfork’s Joshua Klein deftly summarizes why these guys do not succeed as advocates for social change.
i stopped reading pitchfork a while ago. hrmph. maybe i should start again.
Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) -Astrud Guilberto (eng vocals), AC Jobim (port lyrics, composer), Stan Getz (sax), João Gilberto (guitar)
starbucks is one of life’s weird musical vortexes. usually, they have pretty decent music playing but it hardly ever reaches a level where the song penetrates the “glass wall of starbucks denial.” i call it that because i can’t help but feel slighted about what i’m listening to. i don’t want to acknowledge it as pure art or admit to a friend that i really like it. deep down, we both know it’s all part of one big selling machine.
but hey, this is good.
Fuck the casual viewer. Seriously, who wants a casual viewer? If you’re a writer do you want a casual reader? I don’t want those people. Don’t want ‘em. Throwing them back. They’re like little fish on the hook. Throw ‘em back. I want the guy who’s come in who wants to be told a story. A story has a beginning, middle and an end.
