MURKETING

Requiem for a taste-maker

If there’s been much reaction to the short story “Raj, Bohemiam,” by Hari Kunzru, on the various taste-maker, buzz-creator, cool-ness blogs, I’ve missed it. And that’s a surprise: Given that William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition is such a touchstone in the world, you’d figure a fresh piece of fiction published in The New Yorker and set at the crossroads of cultural capital and commercial persuasion would get some attention.

If you’re interested in that sort of thing, you should read it. The narrator/protagonist is a certified Cool Guy plunged into existential crisis by an encounter with a fellow party-goer with some excellent vodka and a camera phone.

What was a personality if it wasn’t a drop-down menu, a collection of likes and dislikes? And now that my possessions were gone, what would I put in their place? Who was I without my private pressings, my limited editions, my vintage one-offs? How could I signal to potential allies across the vast black reaches of interpersonal space?

Upbeat? Well, no. Good read, though. Here’s the link.

(Big thanks to Brian K. for the tip!)

Flickr Interlude

Green Wall, originally uploaded by Quino Terceño.

[Join and contribute to the Murketing Flickr group]

In The New York Times Magazine: Polaroid

PHOTO FINISH:
In a curious reversal, an innovation travels from the mainstream to the creative fringe — and disappears.

Traditionally, the role of those in the creative and cultural fringes is to lead: embracing unusual ideas, modes of expression and even products that gradually catch on with the mainstream and the masses. (By which time, of course, the fringe has moved on.) But in a recent reversal of the fringe-to-mass journey, many adventurously creative individuals have lately been in a state of rage, mourning and protest over the disappearance of a treasured tool — one that years ago reached, saturated and then passed out of the mainstream: Polaroid instant film.

Read the Consumed column in the March 16, 2008, issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.

Consumed archive is here, and FAQ is here. Consumed Facebook page is here.

NOTE: There is no Consumed column next Sunday, I took a week off. The column returns in the March 30 issue.

Credit-card debt: Nocera’s (convincing) take

Very smart column on credit-card debt by my one-time colleague from the Fortune days Joe Nocera in the NYT this morning. He picks up on a recent theme explored by Business Week: How the current credit crisis will affect that workaday form of debt so many of us carry around in our pockets — the credit card kind.

One theory of course is that in a kind of echo of what’s been going on in the mortgage market, consumers will soon be unable to pay their bills, on a scale that will threaten the businesses of their debtors (in this case, card issuers).

Nocera has a different, and I think more convincing, view. He knows a lot about credit cards and the role they’ve played in quotidian economic life in America since the 1960s — it’s one of the fascinating threads in his excellent book A Piece of the Action.

In the column he explains what’s been going on with credit debt in more recent decades. “Since the early 1980s, debt has gone from 80 percent to 133 percent of disposable income, according to Kathleen Keest of the Center for Responsible Lending,” he notes. At turn of the 21st Century, he continues, this trend slowed somewhat, “because the housing bubble had begun, and with it came a shift from credit card debt to home equity loans. From 2000 to 2006, Americans borrowed a staggering $1.3 trillion from their homes. By comparison, credit card debt rose much more slowly.”

By the end of 2006, however, the housing bubble had ended, and so had the ability of homeowners to use home equity loans. But it was hard to turn off the debt spigot entirely because so many people had become accustomed to living beyond their means.

Sure enough, it was right about then that credit card debt began climbing. In 2004, for instance, credit card debt grew at a rate of $6.25 billion a quarter. In just the fourth quarter of 2007, it grew by $20 billion. Total credit card debt stands today at about $950 billion. That is still not close to the $11 trillion in mortgages, but it’s within spitting distance of auto loans.

This sounds ominous. And for many individuals, it probably is ominous. But as Nocera points out, there’s a big difference when it comes to comparing mortgage companies and credit-card companies: “The credit card industry is fully aware of what is happening, and is making adjustments — if you want to call them that — to control its loan losses.” That is, it’s raising rates, imposing new fees, and so on.

Indeed, even though people who are already in trouble are likely to default, there is a whole other category of credit card users who are likely to become profitable for credit card issuers: those who usually pay off their balances every month, but because of the recession find themselves needing to go into debt. That ability to do so may be costly, and surely will breed resentment, but it will also wind up saving the credit card companies. Heads you lose, tails they win.

Hey, I didn’t say it was an uplifting column. I said it was smart.

See what you think. Here’s the link again.

[Related: More recent Business Week piece on credit card issuers starting to balk at working out deal with strapped consumers via credit counselors. “Some analysts suspect issuers are increasingly worried about losses,” BW says. One of its experts says there will be more (consumer) bankruptcies as a result.]

Flickr Interlude: Congrats edition

Regular Murketing readers know that I’m a big fan of Flickr and much of the wonderful work to be found there. In light of this I was interested to realize a little belatedly that one Flickr contributor whose work I’ve enjoyed — and who has even popped up in the Murketing Flickr Pool — was recently hyped by HP in a marketing campaign by that company.

The photographer Lorenzo goes by the Flickr name lorenzodom, and his dedicated HP site is here. He also has a blog, and a book project coming soon: 25 Lessons: The Art of Living. Here’s one of his Flickr sets: images picked as favorites by other Flickr users.

Should have noted all this earlier, but: (Belated) congrats for the recognition and the new projects, Lorenzo…

SX$W

I’ve been wanting to use that headline all week.

My excuse is this Wall Street Journal piece about a squabble between the music festival, and encroaching brand-promoters doing private events. Some are invite-only, meaning that your $650 all-access badge won’t get you into. Others are free and open to all — no pricey badge required. Both scenarios are an annoyance to festival organizers.

The festival now has deep-pocketed sponsors … including Citigroup Inc., Miller Lite and Dell Inc. They pay between $100,000 and $200,000 each in exchange for having their logos plastered around town.

One concern among SXSW organizers is that as more bands play outside events, music lovers could have less reason to pay for the festival itself. The parties also represent competition for sponsorship dollars and venues. For instance, one unaffiliated concert is sponsored by Tecate and Dos Equis beers.

The festival organizers’ responses to this have included calling in the fire marshall, and of course litigation.

Hopefully AdPulp, who I believe is still on the ground in Austin, will weigh in on this matter.

More on “new wave” vs. traditional crafting

Speaking of the occasional tension between the newer wave of DIY crafters I wrote about in Handmade 2.0 and the more established/traditional “fine craft” segment: Here is a pretty interesting post and even more interesting series of comments about a presentation at a Society of North American Goldsmiths conference. I know that doesn’t sound like the likely setting for anything that would spark a lively debate, but trust me.

This account on the blog of jewelry-maker Imogene describes a presentation titled “D.I.Y, Websites, and Energy: The New Alternative Craft.” That sounds pretty Handmade 2.0!

But the problem, as described, is umbrage over the perceived condescension and dismissive-ness of one speaker, Bruce Metcalf. Metcalf himself — who I’m not familiar with, but on the other hand certainly doesn’t seem to have read my Times Mag article, so we’re even — weighs in in the ensuing long series of comments to clarify and defend his remarks.

(Also weighing in is the other speaker, Andrew Wagner, who doesn’t come in for any particular criticism here, which I was relieved to discover, since I’ve corresponded with him and he seems like a nice and open-minded person.)

Personally I’m most intrigued by the raising of the issue of how many “alt” crafters have advanced degrees. My general sense is that advanced degrees are perceived as not particularly interesting, let alone important, in the Handmade 2.0 world in particular, or in the broader DIY/brand underground/indiepreneur culture it is part of.

Anyway, the way I read the discussion, there does seem to be some constructiveness from this getting out into the open. We’ll see what happens, but meanwhile, if you’re interested in the crafty world, it’s a must read.

Footnote: This event was in, of all places, Savannah, GA! How come no one told me? I get no street cred at all!

(Big thanks to Nancy at Circa Ceramics for pointing out the Imogene post!)

Chumby

UnBeige observed recently the launch of the Chumby.

The Chumby is a compact consumer Internet device that is about the size of a coffee cup. But unlike a coffee cup, it can be plugged into an electrical outlet; then it finds an available Wi-Fi connection and streams Internet channels from the free Chumby Network, which has already signed up content partners such as CBS, MTV Networks, and MySpace.

I wonder if there’s a market for this? What do you think? It costs about $180. Here are the photos that people have uploaded of their Chumbys so far.

The management team includes creative director Susan Kare, who has done a lot of interesting things. So, we’ll see.

Coming in April: Craft Con 2008

Last year I had a very interesting time hanging out at the first-ever Craft Congress, in Pittsburgh. Its sequel is Craft Con 2008, in San Francisco in early April, described as “a business development conference for the craft community.”

Craft Con 2008 heralds huge growth for the project. The event in San Francisco has been planned via the internet by crafters from all over the world. April’s conference will welcome participants from all areas of crafting, making a special effort to connect younger and upcoming crafters with the experience and savvy of their antecedents. Craft Con will facilitate much broader discussion and planning in key areas of concern for the movement, in particular the viability of sustainable business and enterprise and expanding the influence of crafting in society.

More about the planned panels and workshops, as well as attendance application information, can be found at CraftCon.org.

To Do in Los Angeles: Poketo First Editions Print Show

The folks at Poketo (subject of August 20, 2006 Consumed) have moved into a new studio space in downtown L.A., and are ringing it in with a show, “First Editions,” featuring limited edition prints by an impressive roster that includes Little Friends of Printmaking, Kate Bingaman-Burt (Consumed November 19, 2006), and none other than former Consumed illustrator Leif Parsons. Details here.

March 22, 6-10 p.m.
Poketo Studio
510 Hewitt Street No. 506
LA

Q&A: Glennz: A Threadless star goes solo

A few weeks back I noted that Glenn Jones – a Threadless star I first interviewed for a July 8, 2007 column on the famous T-shirt company; he’s had 20 T’s produced via its contest system – had announced he was leaving his day job to do his own thing. He’d started selling some greeting cards and prints, but it seemed obvious that before too long he’d be bringing out some T’s.

And now, he is. GlennzTees.com has just launched. Seemed to make sense to use the occasion to ask Mr. Jones a few Q’s. Here they are, with his A’s.

So what are the basics of the new project? I gather it’s six designs to start, will they be sold mostly online, or retail, or some combo?

Well, as you know I’ve been submitting designs to Threadless for a few years now, and I’ve had a lot of designs that scored pretty highly but weren’t winners. That’s led to a lot of requests from people over the years for me to make available t-shirts of some of those unreleased designs.

So I’ve taken four of my more popular unprinted designs, like Rock Me Amadeus, and refined them taking advantage of more colours I’ve got available to me now. Plus I’ve added a couple of new designs that haven’t been seen before.

For now these will just be available at GlennzTees.com.

You mentioned to me that you’re working with some folks in Austin, TX on this. And they got in touch with you via Threadless? So who are they, and when did they get in touch? How did this come about, in other words? Please continue…

Browsing “New Wave” work at the American Craft Show

One of the interesting sub-plots of the rise of Handmade 2.0 DIYism is the relationship between practitioners of the new craftiness, and practitioners of what might be called “fine craft.” Let’s just say the two groups do not always connect, and there is occasional grumbling from some of the more traditional craft creators about all the attention that the upstarts get.

So I was interested to hear that The American Craft Council was including a “New Wave” section in its recent American Craft Show — a section that would include Handmade 2.0 subjects Circa Ceramics.

The Crafty Bastard blog visited the show and offers up an account. Excerpt:

So what does ‘New Wave’ mean? Well, according to a press release dated January 14, 2008, the American Craft Council describes them as: artists typically labeled ‘indie’ as they usually exhibit and sell their work at small local craft shows.

Small local craft shows? Seriously? Is that why they were given so little space at this event? …

The New Wave artists were all crammed together in a fenced off area and barely had three feet of space each. …

Still, the post goes on to suggest that plenty of good stuff was on view. And perhaps it’s a first step toward some kind of reconciliation of what sometimes seem almost like two separate sets of ideas about craft. In any case, it’s certainly true that the “small local craft shows” line is a little weird, given how big events like Renegade have become.

The full account, with lots of pictures, is here.

Bands and brands

Speaking of the whole SXSW thing, catching up when I got home yesterday I enjoyed this story in the WSJ about the hunt for bands to use in ads and videogames and so on. And today AdPulp notes this Ad Age piece noting that “Rock’s anti-corporate ethos has softened in recent years (read: totally disappeared in the case of most artists).” Both pieces are worth a read.

(For what it’s worth, the WSJ story includes a KCRW DJ who also picks songs for various TV shows and so on; I’ve written about KCRW in Consumed (January 23, 2005), and earlier with a particular focus on DJs involved in the music director biz for shows, movies, and ads here.)

Authors, brands, audiences, thank-yous

I think it’s safe to say that the highlight of my 20-minute appearance at SXSW Interactive on Saturday was the part where I wasn’t talking: Specifically, the questions from some audience members at the end, and conversations with others afterward.

In particular I’m still pondering a question I don’t think I managed to answer very well, from a young woman who wondered what I thought about — paraphrasing here of course — how the whole “personal brand” phenomenon has affected writing & journalism. This is a case where I think I have trouble saying anything definitive, not because I haven’t thought about it before, but rather because I think about it a lot.

I mean, let’s face it, the whole point of my being there was to promote not just a book but, in effect, myself. To say that I’m ambivalent about this process would be a wild understatement. I definitely think that many successful authors become brands (or “personalities”) of a sort, and possibly even that becoming something like a brand is almost required at this point; on the other hand, I cling to the idea that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the actual work completely takes a back seat to promotion.

I actually wanted to ask my questioner what she thought, but couldn’t start a conversation up from the stage, and didn’t have a chance to when I was off.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to those who turned up and said hello and asked interesting questions and said interesting things.

Actually, speaking of those who turned up…

Audience: SXSW Interactive / R. Walker.

This audience pic might be the first in a series, we’ll see. A few months ago, E brought to my attention a series by photographer Tim Davis called My Audience. I loved it — and immediately wanted to steal the idea!

To make my ripoff seem at least vaguely different — or possibly even as an homage — I thought I’d add the element of asking audience members to obscure their faces. That way I will ideally end up with a collection of images of audiences who appear to have something to hide, which I find amusing. Also: no release forms necessary.

(This may not turn out to be the first in a series, because I’m dropping a line to Davis and giving him the opportunity to say: Knock it off. Which he certainly would have the right to do.)

Anyway I was pretty pleased that everybody played along. So: thanks again.

Airborne’s $23 million false advertising settlement

I saw passing mention of this the other day and forgot about till E reminded me, but it seems that:

The makers of Airborne have agreed to refund money to consumers as part of a $23.3 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit for false advertising. It does not admit wrongdoing or illegal conduct.

I wrote about Airborne in Consumed, January 8, 2006. At the time I noted that “as with many supplements, there is no independent scientific evidence of Airborne’s medicinal value,” and suggested that the folk remedy aspect (the brand story was heavily tied to the fact that it was created by a teacher, not a doctor) was probably part of its appeal for some consumers. But apparently not for all, given the class-action suit.

I haven’t seen anything about how the brand is selling these days, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it prominently displayed in drugstores as recently as a few weeks ago.