MURKETING

links for 2007-05-18

• Designed By You
  “Mophie, trying a new twist on product development, invited MacWorld attendees to dream up their own gizmos, scribble them down on a piece of paper, which were then voted on by others”
  (tags: products)
• Wrist Dreams: Turkey gets wristwatch with built-in credit card
  “Turkey’s Garanti Bank has teamed up with MasterCard to offer the world’s first watch with a PayPass-enabled credit card built in.”
  (tags: products watches)
• Jimi Game Shell media card carrying case for the portable gamer
  New from past Consumed subject Jimi: “Portable gamers can use these cases to protect their media cards from damage from the elements as well as their own clumsy handling.”
  (tags: products updates)
• M&M’S Contest Rewards Candy-Only Communication
  “M&M’S has put a price tag on the silent treatment: $31,000. That’s how much the candy brand will award to the couple that can spend one month communicating only via M&M’s.”
  (tags: foolhunting)

XLarge, considered

The most recent episode of The Weekly Drop was a pretty good interview with the founder of XLarge. I had some knowledge of the brand as an early Southern California player in what’s now called streetwear, but I knew less about it than I do about some other brands. (As it happens, I own at least one XLarge t shirt that I like a lot, but this is one of many examples of how my own taste doesn’t necessarily dictate my reporting.) Listening to the interview inspired me to click over to the brand’s site. I assume the T’s now on sale are from the out-going season, and some new batch of stuff is on the way, but a couple of designs stuck me as interesting for various reasons.

This item, Hi-Jacked Tee, jumped out at me. (In this and all cases, click on the image to go the item’s listing in the XLarge site’s store section if you’re interested.) Note the Arabic-ish treatment of the XLarge name. Seems like wearing this would be asking for trouble. But perhaps that’s part of the idea. Will Urban Outfitters bite this? I don’t think so.

Since I’ve been on this logo remix kick, I have to highlight this. They have a couple of t shirts with a similar theme, but I always enjoy seeing mundane products — a beer cozy, in this case — get the brand-underground treatment.

As a Warhol freak, I’m slightly tempted by this one: “Pop Cultural Revolution,” amusing.

But this one was my favorite. Apart from the sort of PE (as in phys ed, not Public Enemy) look, remixed with a rat, I’m probably feeling vaguely nostalgic about NYC. Of course, I’ve had the experience of moving away from NYC before, so this time my nostalgia has a somewhat different flavor. (The only T-shirt I presently own that’s NYC-specific is one I bought just before leaving town the first time, in 1999: Purchased on St. Marks, it’s one of those shirts that says, “Welcome To New York: Duck Motherfucker,” with a huge gun graphic. I love that shirt.)

Mostly I think I like the fact that the “XL” gets their branding done in a relatively subtle way. The fact is, I like a lot of brand underground designs, but I’m not any more anxious to be a billboard for their supposedly super-cool logos than I am for mainstream logos. I mean, it’s not like I’m idiotic enough to believe that anybody who looks at me will think I’m down with latest whateverblahblah, because I’m wearing thus-and-so brand. (In fact, in my case, the more obvious it is that I’m wearing a supercool-brand T-shirt, the more obvious it is that I’m a dope in denial.) So I like how the “XL” here presumably accomplishes whatever the XLarge crew wants it to accomplish in terms of spreading the XLarge name — but at the same time I could almost certinaly wear it without anybody realizing it was a brand at all. In a de facto sense, it’s un-logo-ed.

At least that’s my rationale for buying it. Which I just did.

The view from Murketing HQ earlier this morning

Good morning
Originally uploaded by R. Walker.

So this is what I woke up to today, around 6 a.m. or so: A fire across the street. No one was hurt, it started upstairs, which was vacant. Some people live downstairs but they’re okay. This was sort of the high point of the fire, when I was getting a little concerned. But the Savannah Fire Dept got it under control pretty quickly.

Trust me

Asked to rank their level of trust in a dozen industries ranging from insurance to health care, respondents around the world invariably put media and entertainment dead last, according to Edelman, the U.S. public relations and consulting company that conducted the surveys.

— International Herald Tribune.

The silver lining here, for me, is that this must mean Edelman won’t bother to pitch me anymore. Why would their clients want to be mentioned in some untrustworthy media outlet?

Think it over

Recently I was introduced to the very pleasing Psychology 101-ish term, “need for cognition.” Or maybe I was introduced to it years ago, when I took Psychology 101, and had forgotten. Anyway, it basically means this: People who have a high “need for cognition” like to think, and those who don’t, don’t. I liked this because of course I think of myself, and my readers, as people with a high need for cognition.

Then I started thinking about it.

Do people really self-identify as not liking to think? There’s a lot of evidence — I think — to support the contention that many people do not, in fact, like to think. That’s why gossip and shopping tips are more popular than long investigations of complex topics.

But how, exactly, do psych researchers figure out who are the people who don’t like to think? Who would say, “I prefer to think as little as possible.”

I found this quiz, which appears to be designed to measure need for cognition.

The first item is: “I would prefer simple to complex problems.”  You’re supposed to rate to what degree this statement is characteristic of you, the quiz-taker.

This gave me pause. For one thing, if I know what this quiz is about, and I see myself as a person who likes to think, I know what the “right” answer is. Looking at the list, the “right” answer is fairly obvious in almost all cases. Other statements are: “Thinking is not my idea of fun,” and “The notion of thinking abstractly appeals to me.”

I’ll tell you what I think. I think this quiz measure the degree to which you want to be perceived, or maybe even perceive yourself, as a person who likes to think. Which is quite a different thing than being a person who really does like to think.

For another thing, while I see myself as a  person who likes to think, the fact of the matter is — if I really think about it —  I’m not sure that the “right” answers would really be honest. I know I’m supposed to say I prefer complex problems to simple problems. But come on. I’d prefer no problems at all! I’ve got plenty of problems to deal with, every week, and if I could make the problem-barrage simpler, I’m pretty sure I would.

But maybe the truth is that this is only what I think! Maybe the truth is, while I would claim that I’d prefer to cut down on the problems, my actual behavior is a morass of problem-creation, and when I don’t have enough problems to think about, I go searching for more. Without even thinking about it! After all, one thing I do recall from Psychology 101 is that there’s often a disconnect between what individuals say, and what they do.

So what does it all mean? I’m not sure. I need — possibly I really and truly need — to think about it some it more.

Out

Nothing here this week. Back on Sunday.

PR Moment of the Day

I get lots and lots of PR email, some of it personalized, some of it mass-style and addressed only to “Hi,”. Here is a nice variation, in which the sender has taken the time to delete the name of the person she sent the release to right before sending it to me — but I guess didn’t take the time to turn off the show-changes feature.

Anyway. Can’t make it. Sorry.

Y’all talk funny

So, I’m from Texas. I was born in Texas, and I grew up in a small town. And yet, incredibly, I don’t speak in a slow, syrupy drawl. Or at least I don’t when I’m talking to a buncha damn yankees. (That’s a joke.) In the years I lived in NYC, I was constantly asked: “Where’s your accent?” I guess alla them cosmopolitan types figured I’s sposeda talk like I just got back from shootin an episode-a Hee Haw or somethin’. I really couldn’t say.
Anyway, the question made me pay a lot of attention to accents. I’ve always been interested in George W. Bush’s accent. You’ll notice that while he was born up north, went to prep school and college up north, and “summered” (a word that didn’t exist where I grew up) in Maine, he has an accent. Real folksy. Down to earth.

His brother Jeb, who was born in Texas, and did all his schooling in Texas, hardly has an accent at all.

Curious, no?

I bring up this completely random topic because, perusing the Dallas Observer’s blog, I came upon this entry that links to clips of Hillary Clinton doing what I guess she figures is a southern accent. It’s pretty funny. There’s also a link to Barack Obama sounding a lot more southern-accenty than I’ve ever heard him before.

I guess southern accents are hot. I better see if I can work one up.

Assorted news

Freshnessmag has no fewer than three interesting bits of news.

First, Disney freaks may recognize the character Oswald the Lucky Rabit, who pre-dates Mickey Mouse. According to Freshness, the first company that Disney has given (or sold a license, I assume) rights to use Oswald is none other than Comme des Garcons. See the Freshness post for details, including links to stuff about Oswald.

Second: In a post about Supreme’s new line, there’s this image below. I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for somebody to do a riff on the logo-covered NASCAR-style jackets that are (mysteriously, in my view) popular on “the street.” (Specifically, I wanted to see a bunch of the streetwear clique brands get together and do a collaboration on a set of these jackets covered with their logos.) Maybe somebody else has done such a riff before this, but so far as I know, Supreme is the first:

Here is Supreme’s site. Here is an old Consumed about Supreme.

Third & finally: While I’d read that Muji was planning to open a flagship store in New York, I hadn’t realized that it’s going to be in the new NYT building. Interesting. Here is an old Consumed about Muji.

A short pause

This site will be quiet and un-updated until Sunday. Just so you know.

Images of Unconsumption

Steve Portigal did a turn at Pecha Kucha Night in San Francisco (20 images, 20 seconds per image) on the subject of unconsumption. See/hear the slide show via his blog. Pretty cool (and of course I appreciate the shout out).

I’m way behind on updating and re-organizing the earlier unconsumption post & feedback into a new page on this site. After two years of pretending to write a book, I’m actually sending a draft to the publishers in the next week or so, and I’m hoping that time will free up a little after that, and I’ll be able to take care of that unconsumption update and a bunch of other stuff that’s been on hold in recent months. Maybe I’ll be on top of things enough to mention NYT articles within five days of them being published. And maybe I’ll finally get around to cleaning up the list of links at right — perhaps I’ll some debt bloggers to it.

Anyway, it’s possible that this site will become somewhat less lame in the months ahead. Or maybe just lame in a whole new way.

Debts and stories

I meant to mention it earlier, but I pretty much loved this story by John Leland in last Sunday’s NYT: “Debtors Search for Discipline Via Blogs.” If you missed it, it’s worth checking out: It’s about people who have problems managing their finances, and in fact often have enormous debts, but who for whatever reason just can’t talk about it with their friends or family. They’ve found solace (and success in reducing their debts, apparently) by using the annonymous blog audience as a sort of confessional.

Like other debt bloggers, Tricia believes the exposure gives her the discipline to reduce her debt. “I think about this blog every time I’m in the store and something that I don’t need catches my eye,” she told readers last week. “Look what you all have done to me!”

For one thing, it’s bit of a thrill to read a story about blogs being deployed for something other than promotion, trashing some “mainstream” entity, or both.

For another, the story indicates that this seems to be helpful in dealing with what I think is an authentic problem for a lot of people. (Not an invented or trumped-up “problem” like “the need for personalization” or “the craving for authenticity.”) It’s a genuine new solution for an old dilemma. (A solution for some people, at least — I’m not suggesting that consumer debt is going to disappear tomorrow because of this.)

It somewhat reminds me of the work of James W. Pennebaker, who has studied the potential positive effects of writing/journaling for helping people deal with emotional/mental/physical crises and problems. I’m by no means an expert on his work, so I can’t really speak to it very directly, so I’ll just quote from this site of his: “Writing about emotional upheavals in our lives can improve physical and mental health. Although the scientific research surrounding the value of expressive writing is still in the early phases, there are some approaches to writing that have been found to be helpful.”

One of the things I have wondered about Pennebaker’s work is how important the idea of an audience is to the person who is using writing in this way. I assume even the person writing longhand in a notebook imagines an audience on some level. But is there an effect from writing online, where it’s so much easier to imagine, and possibly even obtain, an audience? Is that important to the process or not?

All of that strays away from what Leland was really addressing, and again the thing I liked about the story is that, for whatever reason, this is a manifestation of blogging that seems to be helping people really deal with real problems. That’s good.

Games

I’ve mentioned before how living in Savannah, close to Fort Stewart, means that we see a lot more local-news-angle coverage of the Iraq war. Here’s an interesting example from yesterday’s Savannah Morning News, courtesy of E:

This article notes that “war games” are getting underway at Fort Stewart for 3rd Infantry Division soldiers who are preparing to deploy. This includes a “two-week mission rehearsal,” which will happen in the pine woods near the base, where trainers will “recreate an Iraqi province.” From what I gather, the normal procedure would be to send the troops out to California, to train at “mocked-up Iraqi villages” in the Mojave Desert. But partly for time reasons, trainers from the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, in California, have come here:

Fort Irwin’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment will act as insurgent forces, using simulated live-fire and roadside bombs. Trainers and observers will gauge how well soldiers operate in combat situations and interact with Iraqi community leaders.

About 250 Iraqi-American actors will portray a mix of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

The clothing they wear, the food they cook, and their customs and language are designed to replicate Iraqi society, said Fort Irwin spokesman John Wagstaffe.

So, what we’re most curious about, of course, is the 250 Iraqi-American actors. What are their lives like? How did they get this gig? Is it a good thing to do? Do they have the right mix of people so that actual Sunnis “portray” Sunnis, etc.? What do they do in their down time?

Quotable

One of the reasons Louis Menand is among my favorite writers is that even his parenthetical asideas are a pleasure. For instance, in this entertaining essay about a new book of quotations, he notes that the section drawn from advertisements comes right after “the section for Theodor Adorno, who would have grimly appreciated the irony and probably composed an incomprehensible aphorism about it.”

The Best Sentence I Read All Day, but Tyler Cowen Didn’t.

“Heck the bananas inside could have been boogers.”

— from Sugar Needle #31

[What’s Sugar Needle? Who is Tyler Cowen? To steal a line from Alife: If you don’t know, find out.]

[Tip: Find out about Sugar Needle first.]