September 2011
“People who aren’t very experienced with branding, or are new at it, sometimes feel that they can get away with something being off-brand. But I think that genuinely good branding involves an examination of every single way the brand, the product, and the experience is viewed. Everything that you do, everything you release, everything you say — everything is the cumulative expression of your brand.”
—How Starbucks Transformed Coffee From A Commodity Into A $4 Splurge | Fast Company
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”
—Ray Bradbury (via makelovetothemoon)
“So you can’t win the nomination of one of the major parties in our country if you admit that scientists are right? Republican climate-change deniers make our country look like a joke.”
—Bill Clinton (via lucasshanks)
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
—Oscar Wilde (via aconversationoncool)
“Here’s a guy who goes to work in a building whose entrance has the words “Abandon News, All Ye Who Enter Here” inscribed on the lintel, who spends his waking hours criticizing journalists and at the same time rejecting journalistic responsibilities … and who dreams of being the president of a nonideological twenty-four-hour news network. It’s crazy and it’s touching, as even he must know, for no sooner does he allow himself to dream it than he hears a voice in his head whispering, “Stay in your lane, boy. Stay in your lane.” But he’s forty-eight years old, with a wife and two kids; his father left home when he was eleven and has apparently never attended any of his gigs as a comedian. He has always benefited from the collective fantasy. But the fantasy of being the Roger Ailes of veracity is not collective — it’s his and his alone.”
— Jon Stewart and the Burden of History — Tom Junod
I remember about the time I first saw this ad. I was in third grade, which by my estimation is far to early to start obsessing over material items like sneakers, but I had already developed a love affair with the Nike Air Zoom flight, the first shoe I ever loved. I recall flipping through a magazine, a Sports Illustrated more than likely, and coming across an image that at that moment I knew would alter the course of my life (heavy thoughts for a 9 year old, I know). The beautiful contrasting white mesh and black patent leather, complimented by the icy clear and concord bottoms, all there on the page in one mesmerizing ensemble staring me right in the face.
The real beauty of the ad is the lack of words; even then I understood that. This was a shoe that so superior in terms of aesthetic design that it spoke entirely for itself. It’s sporty and dressy, its Michael Jordan on and off the court, it’s business and pleasure, all that is conveyed within the first seconds of viewing the page.
Any sort of copy would distract from the clear message the image alone communicates; this is a beautiful fucking shoe. The very faint and mysterious phone number at the bottom is small enough that it doesn’t take away from the shoe and if I recall correctly, the number leads to a message providing more info to curious consumers (I easily called the number over 50 times)(an early version of a QR code).
I remember wanting a pair of these shoes more than I had ever wanted anything in my life, including the Ninja Turtles skateboard I had received for my birthday the year before. Shortly after seeing this ad, I was subjected to the accompanying back-of-a-comic-book style prints and the wonderful commercials that only added to my insatiable desire to own a pair of these shoes.
Eventually I got a pair, then another, and another, then two more, remembering the feeling I had when I stared at the print ads in magazines as a young elementary school kid, each time I put them on. This ad was not only the foundation for my lifelong appreciation for sneakers, but also my lifelong appreciation for advertising; I don’t know if I should thank the writer, or damn him to hell.
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (via bearnaked)
