First off, I read your blog quite often and I respect your marketing acumen. I am a huge fan of the intelligence that your site presents on a daily basis.

That said, I am a little turned off by your post…and I hate to say that your evaluation of Pepsi’s pop-up store is a tad out of focus…

For one, Coltrane Curtis is the person curating this event. Google him, seriously… So as for your call for agencies to stop reading “cool” and start doing “cool” the problem is, well, Coltrane’s professional life has been about making the “cool” that other agencies read about. And, that he’s partnered with Hypebeast, the site that I’m the Marketing Director for, makes a lot of sense: for his agency, for Pepsi, and for us. All in all, Coltrane is our actual friend, not an email address with a bank account. And for Hypebeast, this is a win for us as all but TWO of our staff are based in Hong Kong. This pop-up is truly special for us. It’s making our site part of an actual event (read: not online…).

Secondly, two of the brands that are exhibiting in the space are not from NY.

Fruition (www.fruitionlv.com) is the ultra-cool vintage clothing store from Las Vegas. Have you heard of them? This is their first retail venture of any kind in NY. Much cooler than Target… Their energy sparked the current retro movement in ALL of hip-hop culture. Ask the clients that they style for: M.I.A, Kanye, Lupe Fiasco… Also the head of the store runs Stussy and Undefeated in Las Vegas. Did you know that?

The other store/brand Commonwaelth (www.cmonwealth.com) is arguably the top streetwear store in the US based on the accounts that they carry. Interestingly enough: they are from Virgina. And who is one of their partners? Oh yeah, Pharrell.

I could also talk about the brands exhibiting. Just know that they include people who are behind the pulse of this “cool” culture that so often gets lost in translation. Have you heard of Supreme and Def Jam? Yeah their people are in the mix too…with their own personal brands.

And to be honest, that’s just it. Your topical glance at this Pepsi collaboration is proof enough: you know Target, Coltrane knows street culture.

If you knew about the brands and people involved with this experience, and the motivations behind its conception (read: helping brands sell clothing and aligning them with one another) you would know that this pop-up is right on the money for a multitude of reasons.

Also, DJ Neil Armstrong, the DJ spinning the event, came from the battle turntable scene that streetwear grew up with. And what is he today? He’s Jay-Z’s DJ. Did you know that?

Probably not.

After all, our reference set must have been lost in your mere reading, and unknowing of the behind-the-scenes culture and the people behind the content, of “cool sites”… It’s ok, I’m not in your lane and wouldn’t assume that I have even an infinintesimal amount of the big business marketing knowledge that you have. But we know this market, and, as you’ve proven that perhaps you overstepped your bounds–or maybe just didn’t do enough research before you signed off on Pepsi Proper?

So, now that you know more about Pepsi Proper, perhaps you should have left your bashing of meaningless retail experiences for ones that lack meaning… I’ll be sure to check that post out when I read your blog, as per usual, in the near future…

Peace.
Commonwealth (www.cmonwealth.com)

And Peter – I am inspiring positivity – less visual & tangible waste.

Wow I made you choke.. DIDN’T I…… Question cool again, and I will show you my resume. We doing this to give back to the brands who were having a hard time getting through the hard retail times during this holiday season. So………… Now what..? ALL of these participating brands are MY personal friends and I applaud PEPSI to stepping to the plate to right a wrong! So, see you at the pop-up, if you really have the off-line guts to show up and say this to all of the brands when they arrive. Even Chris from Fruition who is travelling from Vegas with his wifey to sell product……. Take notes. Real is real, and you are not familiar! Stop typing and LIVE…..!

If they’re going to do a store it would be great to do something that was a little closer to their core. They’re a global company so why not bring you products from around the world that you can’t normally get cause they’re Pepsi and can go their for you? At least then they’ve made an attempt at being authentic.

These type of stores just prove that as long as new ideas keep coming big companies will take them and co-opt them with no real sense of how to really leverage it. And I must say honestly like the author above, I’m just sick of seeing it.

I’d like to see one of these solution-neutral companies do a great piece of imaginative, communicative print design on a well-selected billboard or two… Oh wait, I think I know one!

As we know, most of it is dreadful and creatively bankrupt but every now and then an ad will appear that justifies the whole thang.

I’d rather experience and enjoy a brand via a pop-up store than look at another identi-kit print ad.

They’ve simply become another string in the marketing bow along with Facebook profiles, twitters, promotions, sampling, stunts and whatever f;avor of the month band wagon happens to roll by.

The key to all of it is imagination, without this the whole things sucks.