Dept. of Updates

Above: “Us Always,” on Behance, iPhone/iPod Touch wallpaper, via ffffound. July 22, 2007 Consumed about Domo is here.

A recent-ish Consumed (January 28, 2009) about the iFart app for iPhones quoted Amar Bhidé making some points about “venturesome consumers.” Bhidé is given a more dignified context in which to discuss bad times and new innovations on the NYT site. He notes: “About 20 years ago, I studied 100 founders of Inc. magazine’s 1989 list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Virtually all of them had started between 1981-83 in the midst of an awful recession.” Others weigh in as well; worth reading.

No doubt you’ve caught the news that the maker of the Flip video camera (Consumed: May 25, 2008), is being bought by Cisco.

One of the founders of mixed-martial-arts apparel brand TapouT (Consumed: Augut 29, 2008), Charles “Mask” Lewis, was recently killed in a car accident.

Billy Mays (Consumed: October 26, ,2008) merch in the land of handmade? Well, Craftzine offers this on fighting sweat stains with Oxi-Clean.

NPR reports on a “markedly un-Hollywood” film festival — the San Antonion Independent Christian Film Festival. The alternative market & distribution strategies for Christian movies were examined in this November 13, 2005 Consumed about the Left Behind movies.

My Private Brand on Wal-Mart’s Great Value private-label effort. This has gotten a fair amount of attention, although to my surprise few are mentioning Wal-Mart is not exactly new to the private-label game — its private-label Ol’ Roy dog food has long been the top-selling dog food in the country. (Consumed: February 22, 2004).

There’s been a slew of Barbie-related material out there, as this year is the doll’s 50th anniversary — an event marked by Consumed with this January 25, 2009 column on Margaux Lange’s Barbie-parts jewelry. That piece mentioned past studies of girls mutilating their Barbies, and recently Forbes decided to recap some of that research, from 2005, along with other examples, here.

Longtime readers know I’m really into imaginary brands, and among other places addressed the topic in this November 18, 2007 column about T-shirt maker Last Exit to Nowhere. Since one of Last Exit’s designs is the Omni Consumer Products logo from Robocop, I was of course interested in this Evil Movie Megacorporation Rebranding project (via Adfreak). Here’s the new “friendlier” identity for Omni: