April 30, 2006

newsletters
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PSFK Newsletter (trends)
IF! Newsletter (ideas)
FASHION Newsletter

reebok’s athletic roots
Reebok has announced it is to move away from the lifestyle focus it became known for - 2005 saw the most controversial ads coming from the leading sports brand. It’s new owner, Adidas, have pointed Reebok’s strategy back towards the athletic market which is apparently where Reebok started.

adidas pulls controversial sneaker
Rob Jama over on PSFK reports that the continuing controversy surrounding the Ray Fong character, on the Adidas x Huf x Barry McGee sneaker has finally come to an end.

Darfur Video Game Winner
To follow up on Fred Rawski’s recent post on PSFK called ‘Human Rights Meets Virtual Gaming‘, the winner of MTV’s Darfur Digital Activist was www.darfurisdying.com - which Fred Fred wrote about last time.

Taxed For Surfing & Email
The British House Of Commons is debating the idea of taxing individuals who use computers at work for their own personal use. Think tax on company cars and you see the angle - if you use the computer for your personal use, then it will be a form of pay!! The Times reports:
Under the rules that replace the scheme, office computers used in part for non-business purposes are treated as a benefit in kind, meaning that employees will have to pay income tax on them, and employers will have to pay national insurance contributions for them as well. On a computer bought for £2,000, an employee paying higher-rate tax would face a £160 bill each year and an employer would have to pay an extra £51.20.

anglomania in new york
A new exhibition at New York’s Met looks at creativity in British fashion over the last 30 years:
AngloMania focuses on British fashion from 1976 to 2006, a period of astounding creativity and experimentation. Over the past 30 years, British fashion has been defined by a knowing and self-conscious historicism. In their search for novelty, designers have looked to past styles with an appetite that is as audacious as it is rapacious. Focusing on their postmodern, historicizing tendencies, this exhibition presents a series of tableaux based on Britain’s rich artistic traditions. The irony of satirical prints, the romance of landscape paintings, and the glamour and bravado of grand manner portraits are evoked through a wide spectrum of British designers. The exhibition is set in the Metropolitan Museum’s English period rooms—the Annie Laurie Aitken Galleries—to create a potent dialogue between the past and the present
From May 3 2006.
Interviews With Xbox, Flavorpill, Yahoo, Treehugger, Second Life, Curious, Modo, DCODE, Treehugger, Coolhunting
We’ve interviewed some fantastic interesting people over the last few weeks. Did you catch ‘em all? Here’s a list of them, just in case.
- Interview With Kevin Dulsky, Paypal Text To Buy - about the launch of the new service
- Interview With Philip Rosedale, Second Life - about opportunities for brands in the virtual world
- Interview With Richard Winkler, Curious Pictures - about the video game collaboration
- Interview with Jon Paley, DCODE - about a new structure for ad agencies
- Interview With George Murphy, Modo Group - about the importance of brand experience and his learnings from Coke/Starbucks
- Interview With Ze Frank - on creativity
- Interview With Sascha Lewis, Flavorpill - on the rise of the creative class
- Interview With Edwin Wong, Yahoo! Inc. - on a new approach to search engine marketing
- Interview With Eli Friedman, Xbox - on youth marketing
- Interview With Graham Hill, Treehugger - on green trends
- Interview With Josh Rubin, Cool Hunting - on trend spotting
adidas Pulls Controversial Sneaker

The continuing controversy surrounding the Ray Fong
character, on the Adidas x Huf x Barry McGee sneaker has finally come to
an end. Adidas has decided to pull the remaining pairs of this shoe after
countless complaints and calls for boycott from the Asian community. "Out
of respect to those offended and to demonstrate our deep commitment to
inclusiveness and diversity, we have chosen to pull the remaining shoes from
the marketplace” read a statement issued by the company.
An apology was
also issued for the offense that was caused by the art work. The limited
edition sneaker that contained an Asian caricature that some considered to be
racist was a part of Yellow Series in the Adicolor campaign.
Reebok Drops Hip Hop Like it’s Hot

Reebok has announced that it is moving away from the lifestyle focus that has seen some of 2005’s most controversial ads. It’s new owner, Adidas, have pointed Reebok’s strategy back towards the athletic market which is apparently where Reebok started.
Reebok President & CEO, Paul Harrington, stated:
"We’ve been a little bit too lifestyle-focused maybe over the past couple years, and we want to shift actually more toward the performance side of our business."
This brings an end to what some see as an unimaginative marketing strategies a major sportswear brand has had. The focus on urban culture was guilty of giving the appearance of trying far too hard for consumers attention and appeared at least two years too late to have real credibility. The campaign sought salience through celebrity and gained notoriety as its 50cent executions [no pun intended] appeared to glamorize gun culture.
More Stories
Yahoo DVR
Yahoo have announced the creation of a programme that allows users to turn their TVs into DVRs. Yahoo Go for TV lets users plug their PC into their TV via… ... continue reading
Summer Of Longtail
Chris Anderson ‘Longtail’ book is due out July 11th. ... continue reading
a-listers blitz ads
Adweek reports a ranking of the top 10 most expensive celebrity ad deals. The majority of the list includes A-list celebrity fashion and beauty/fragrance endorsements…. ... continue reading
diesel-u-music goes global
At first glance you’d be forgiven for probing at the integrity of new music contest Diesel-U-Music. After all, a major fashion corporation creates it. But… ... continue reading
stereo-typical fashion moment
New York based Barbara Reyes was tired of working for “the man” as she puts it and set up Stereotype - a anti-magazine with a… ... continue reading
Kid Robot Ganesh
Saw this in the window of Kid Robot just now. If you check the KR site, there are photos from a big signing last night…. ... continue reading
fake luxury boom
Seven out of ten consumers who buy luxury goods, will mix their labels with counterfeit products reports The Independent. The demographics are surprising as the… ... continue reading
SecondLife Job Club
A group called the Juggernaut Club is holding a real world meeting this Saturday in Queens where they will present a number of opportunities to make money in Second Life. ... continue reading
Nokia’s Golden Trumpet
Whip this one out: Nokia have created a 24k gold Nokia 8800 phone. ... continue reading
More Likely To Text
A survey in the UK indicates that people are more likely to text than make a call with their mobile phones! Smart Mobs: More likely to text in the UK… ... continue reading
Guardian: Interview With Richard Branson
There’s a very interesting interview with Dickie B over on the Guardian. ... continue reading
influx on rogan gregory
The Influx website have a good review of the work and brands of designer Rogan Gregory who now runs Loomstate, Rogan Jeans, A Litl Betr… ... continue reading
Rogan Objects
In a review of the work of designer Rogan, Influx point to the new home range that he’s developing: ... continue reading
Locker Art Show
Reg over at WMMNA spots this interesting art show in Tokyo by belgian artist Eric Van Hove. ... continue reading
Sketches Of Frank Gehry
Next month sees the US release of a documentary by Sydney Pollack on Frank Gehry. ... continue reading
$23 Million Proves That A Large Ad Gets Noticed
The Newspaper Marketing Agency spends that 14 million pounds to prove advertising works. wtf! ... continue reading
More Tea, Chaps?
An article on Reuters looks at an apparent push for tea consumption in Britain with new tea cafes opening to fight the coffee houses. ... continue reading
clarks fashion faux pas
The Times reports that Peter Bollinger, the chief executive of Clarks shoes, made “errors in product mix, styling and consumer focus” which resulted in a sales slump.[Bollinger] said that its spring range for women last year had focused too much on smart merchandise and not enough on casual, comfortable shoes. ... continue reading
TV-B-Gone (Or How To Ruin Our World Cup)
There we are in the Red Lion, about to jump up and down as Rooney shoots to find the net in order to sink Argentina and just as the ball speeds from his foot - all the TVs in the pub go off. Mayhem. Why? ... continue reading
Nintendo Revolution To Be Called The Wii
Nintendo’s next gaming system will be called the Wii. Up until now, the system has been ‘code named’ Revolution. ... continue reading
Eat This Book Party
[Full disclosure: Author Ryan Nerz is one of my (Nichelle) publicity clients] Contrary to a recent article in the New York Times, book parties are NOT over. Plus, book parties… ... continue reading
Google/Firefox Co-Branding
If you open www.google.com with Internet Explorer, you get an ad for the Firefox toolbar with google built in. ... continue reading
profile: mark c o’flaherty
These days, well-known photographers ooze celebrity as much the stars they photograph. Richard Avedon, David La Chapelle, Cindy Sherman and Annie Leibovitz all contribute to… ... continue reading
The Mobizine
Sony Ericsson is to launch a mobile music magazine to showcase the advertising capability of its new Walkman phone and get consumers to make more use of multimedia content, the Guardian reports. ... continue reading
pecha kucha
The organizers devised a strict system for presenting work to ensure a fair share of voice: Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up…. The 5th London Pecha Kucha Night was hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art and included speakers such as James Mair (Viaduct), Adam Scott (Freestate), William Carey (Motorola), Chris Sanderson (The Future Laboratory) Paul Priestman (Priestman Goode), Stella Buchan-Ioannou (London Architecture Biennale) and Julian Roberts (Julian & Sophie). ... continue reading
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha is a night founded three years ago by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in Japan as a place where young designers could meet, network, and show their work in public - now the night is taking residence in other global cities. ... continue reading
pajama hoodies
Made by Billionaire Boys Club, a brand owned by the musician-producer Pharrell Williams and Nigo (of A Bathing Ape, the cult Japanese label), they are electric Easter egg-colored sweatshirts covered with garish images like dollar signs and diamonds. Think of a mutated version of the ubiquitous Vuitton Murakami rainbow print.”The patterns are like children’s wallpaper gone out of control,” Mr. Williams said.You Got a Problem With My Hoodie? ... continue reading



