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September 3, 2010

Too amazed to think of a post title

by Bella

It’s been while since something has blown me away with its combined coolness and ‘how did they do that-ness’. But this did. The latest video for Arcade Fire – We Used To Wait. http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

You go to their site, click to watch the clip, and are then asked to type in the address of the house where you grew up. The video then plays. A guy runs through a street (which turns out to be the very one you grew up in) and all sorts of images (sky view, street view, satelite view) keep flashing alongside the guy as he runs. It’s really remarkable. And very, very clever.

I have to say that it feels more like  a branding opportunity for Google than a plug for Arcade Fire. I like the song, but Google and their frightening capabilities seem to come out King. It’s also interesting to see the ways in which Google is trying to stretch its brand – beyond the very functional world of search and into more creative pursuits.  When they started about ten years ago – function was paramount. And it still very much is; but branded, creative experiences also helps to make Google seemingly indestructible.  It’s no longer just a search engine - it’s a verb, it’s a brand,  and it’s an experience.

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September 2, 2010

Putting the nightclub in the gymnasium

by Bella

We’ve seen Shrager put the nightclub into hotels… and now it’s time for David Barton to put the nightclub in gyms. I walked past this gym on Astor Place and couldnt quite believe it. Mood lighting, velvet sofa-meets-throne, loud music, groomed fashionistas and disco ball inside. Yes, I’m serious. It really was unlike any other gym I’d seen.

Intrigued, I decided to do a little research and have found some pretty far out things that this gym has to offer. The strangest yet? A cross-promotion with Svedka Vodka. Never mind that, up to this point, alcohol and gymnasiums have been the least likely of friends. After an intense boot camp class, you can relax alongside your fellow funky sweatsters over a cocktail. David Barton says, “Vodka seems like the right complement to the gym.”  And he’s right, in the context of this gym; certainly not for the likes of Equinox or Fitness Worst.

I find this concept fascinating. There is a never ending supply of fans unashamedly declaring their love for DB gyms online. They gush about its beautiful crowd, fun atmosphere, sexy setting and seem to love their gym in a way that brinkers on unhealthy. And that’s what happens with challenger brands. Love. Hate. And little in between.

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September 1, 2010

It’s Unnatural, it seems

by Adam

Sir Richard Branson’s mum weighed into the whole ‘Are great challengers born or made?’ debate with a little family history of her own last week. The man himself had not found enough wind to complete his attempt to become the fastest and oldest kiteboarder to cross the English Channel, but was phlegmatic about it – he rarely, he said, every completed an adventure at the first attempt.

But it was his mother, Eve, who stole the show. She was quoted in The Guardian as saying, as she watched the attempt from the beach: “He’s always thinking up something to do next. It may be that I made him a bit like that because I set him things that one really shouldn’t set a child, such as dropping him in the middle of Devon and saying, ‘Find your way home, I’ll meet you down the bottom of the hill,’ when he was about five or six. I didn’t want him just to be a dull little child.”

It is not simply small brands that one wants to avoid being dull little children, it seems. And it is the age at which she did this to the infant knight that is so interesting, shocking even (she’d probably get locked up for it if she tried it today). She really wired a sense of his own ability to go it alone into him at a very, very early age.

I wonder what the implications are for a 15 year old schoolchild, or a 25 year old brand manager. What’s the equivalent of dropping them off in the middle of Devon and telling them to find their way home, so that they become more entrepreneurially interesting?

And bearing in mind that to really translate it properly, it needs to be borderline ‘shocking’?

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August 31, 2010

Music Man – Garden Gig

by Olivia

So we had the Unlit gig. http://www.eatbigfish.com/challenger/2888

It’s a week later and I can now report back. It was brilliant and bonkers. Not a-week-to-recover bonkers but I have been away on holiday. So it was brilliant. Not a garden gig as the acoustic music didn’t go down well in our windy city but we squeezed 60 people into the front room and hall way and then leftovers got drunk and ate cheese in the kitchen. And it was wonderful.

I liked saying hello to curious friends who came in the door but enjoyed introducing strangers to the garden, the chickens, the bands and each other. A few people just walked in off the street inspired by my ‘all welcome’ sign, some were fans of Jont who had travelled across London to venture South and two women Gemma and Jess heard about it through a friend whose Dad worked with us on a Mini Cheddars workshop a while back and got my Challenger Project message. Hello David, his son who didn’t make it and two lovely ladies who did.

It was just as I hoped and more – intimate, open, genuine and generous. And it wasn’t just man and a guitar after all but a woman with a nice voice and a strange instrument and an absolutely amazing band – Orlando Seale and The Swell. Check them out

http://www.myspace.com/orlandoseale

So three for the price of none.

A good idea. I’ll be a good guest. Where next?

http://www.jontnet.com/unlit.php

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August 31, 2010

Me to a Tee

by Bella

We’ve all been there. Luckily, the last time I was there I was about 13. The ‘there’ I’m referring to…dying your own hair. Home jobs. Budget jobs. Disaster jobs. And this hair salon knows it. They use this bang on hair-dyee truth to get our attention, and it works.

Knowing your consumer, and addressing them head on, puts you at a huge advantage. You can automatically resonate and gain traction simply by acknowledging that you understand them really, really well.  Feeling that a brand ‘gets’ you is the first step to loyalty. So good job Slate – I’m sure this message will resound in my head if I am ever tempted by the DIY route.

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August 31, 2010

Jam Tomorrow

by Adam

I was having lunch last week at The Garrison in Bermondsey Street with a friend. The Garrison is a pub that has turned into a restaurant. Exudes a feeling of really caring about good fresh food without falling into snail porridge, and is hip enough without actually being hipster.  Mostly for eating, but with a small bar area at one end for evening refreshment. 

At the end of the meal, after we had settled up, they brought me my copy of the receipt on saucer, with a bookmark on top. The bookmark was a recipe for making 3 jars of Blackberry Jam.

I thought it was an idle bit of fun, and picked it up and took it back to the office. Look, I said, slightly bemused, The Garrison have given me a Jam recipe. I have no idea why.

Barbara gave me a bit of a look. One of those ‘You don’t get out much, do you?’ kind of looks. Because it’s jam making time, she said. It’s the season. What a brilliant idea. I’m making some tomorrow  – can I have a look?

And she took it, and made jam with it.

One person’s mystery bookmark is another’s startlingly useful.  And underlining at the same time that they did, yes, really care about good simple food.

And I rather liked that they didn’t explain it. You either get it, or you don’t. You are either in the know about the jam making season, or you aren’t.

And now I am.

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August 30, 2010

A simple brief

by Bella

I love this design. It didn’t take much to suddenly create little characters and add fun into the world of lunchbox beverages. If a kid were asked to design a juice box, the result would probably be something like this.

This wasn’t  the result of a complete R&D overhaul, it was a tweak to an existing design – based on the belief that juice-boxes should be a little more fun. There’s not that much to say about this design, other than recognising that quite often, the most productive results come from having such a simple brief drive innovation efforts.

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August 27, 2010

The Opportunity in Being Held Accountable: For JetBlue and Steven Slater

by Mark

Tomorrow is the anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream speech”. On NPR they were talking about how his speeches were incredibly challenging back in his time, especially that one.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

The point was he used America’s Belief System against it to create change. He held America accountable to its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. (The pundits were arguing that this made him a lot less popular then than he is now, which was an interesting piece of historical context.)

Read the rest of this entry

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August 27, 2010

Making an Occasional Beeline

by Bella

Wine did it, so why shouldn’t honey? That’s what these guys thought when they set-up Bee Line Honey – a honey brand on a mission to educate us all on the nuances of honey varietals; why they are different and what’s best with what.  As categories evolve, this is  a common trick. Think about beer ten years ago; or even chocolate… and now look at the explosion of occasions and needs that we didn’t even know we had until we were so told. It’s a strong leadership move; this type of  first-mover advantage will do a lot for your brand equity – not to mention entrench you and your brand as the most passionate and ferverent out there.  “I never knew one type of honey was better with lamb….i’ll trust you on that o wise Bee Line honeymakers”. Among the Beeline series is honey for pudding, honey for fish, honey for lamb, honey for cheese, honey for vegetables and honey for health.

Cleverly, it also justifies a premium people may be otherwise unwilling to pay. So, is there a way we want to educate our consumers? Can we steer them in a way they have not yet been steered and open their eyes to the depth of our craft?

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August 25, 2010

A Classic Ambition

by Bella

Chad recently had the privilege of seeing classical musician Benjamin Zander at a client conference. There is a lot to say about this infectiously passionate man – mainly that he is his very own Lighthouse brand – on a mission to awake the world to wonders of classical music. At Chad’s suggestion, I watched his talk on TED, and like the thousands of other viewers, was very, very moved.

There are buckets of Benjamin-gems, but one of my favourites was about ambition; and how reframing an ambition can inform each and every one of your actions. He tells us that, most classical music lovers’ believe that all classical music’s problems would be solved if they could move the amount of lovers from 3% of the population to 4%. He tells us, grinning all the time…”How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought 3 percent of the population likes classical music?” He then reveals the power of a bold ambition and says “How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought everybody loves classical music — they just haven’t found out about it yet.”

I love the power of this truism. Perhaps if we all had grandiose ambitions like that, we would act in such a way that the simple ambition (another 1%) would just happen naturally and effortlessly. It’s definitely a novel and admirable approach and one impossible not to be inspired by. O, and he also measures success by how many shining eyes he can create. Fascinating stuff. Benjamin, my eyes are shining… and the classical-lover needle is edging slightly closer to 4%!

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