Authentic Hall of Fame Speech
A 5x NBA champion, Dennis Rodman was one of the fiercest warriors to have ever played the game of basketball. His unabashed character is one that I have deep admiration for and the word “forever” shall be stitched into his legacy. His #10 in Detroit has been retired, his passion on the court is unmatched, and his speech is one of the most genuine displays of humanism.
Interesting Article on Asian Americans
A buddy forwarded me a link Paper Tigers to a series of articles on Asian Americans and I’ve only read through the first one, but this one alone is enough to have conversation over several bottles.
Wesley Yang:sometimes I’ll glimpse my reflection in a window and feel astonished by what I see. Jet-black hair. Slanted eyes. A pancake-flat surface of yellow-and-green-toned skin. An expression that is nearly reptilian in its impassivity. I’ve contrived to think of this face as the equal in beauty to any other. But what I feel in these moments is its strangeness to me. It’s my face. I can’t disclaim it. But what does it have to do with me? Continue Reading →
Bad Meets Evil by Eminem
I swear, this guy Bruno Mars is one of the best Hook Men of all-time. Everyone knows I’m a fan of Eminem and once again, his delivery is just impeccable in this track.
Promoting Condoms in Taiwan
So the story goes… the boys on the streets of Taiwan were too embarrassed to accept a condom from a random promoter and Ogilvy’s team came up with a fortune-telling machine instead. Sample handouts increased from 23 per hour on the streets to an average of 77 per hour with the machine, which was placed in bars, night clubs, and karaoke bars. Genius!
Prius Commercial
When you see a Saatchi & Saatchi advertisement, you pretty much always know it’s from their company. I’ve been a fan of this agency for years now because everything I’ve seen has demonstrated an unparalleled level of uniqueness that still manages to connect the dots between message and demographic. Of course, this may also be because the company’s clients have deep pockets, but at least these big names are getting their money’s worth. Unlike some corny ads I’ve seen… Sky TV Miracles
Prius + Sheep Advertisement
I came across this advertisement while working on some ideas of my own and I thought this was classic.
“Raise your sights. Compete with the Immortals. Blaze new trails. Soak yourself in research. And never stop selling.” – David Ogilvy
Will Ferrell – The Landlord
The funniest clip I’ve seen in a long time!!! Shout out to Prime for bringing this video to light in the black box!
Michelle Lowe-Holder
Doing some market research tonight after a few episodes of Cougar Town and I came across this awesome designer Michelle Lowe-Holder. She’s got an interesting choice of photography for some of her collections but I dig both the creative direction and products! That’s why she made it on this page!
“Heartless” by Kanye
A classic from Kanye – animation + production + lyrics. It’s very rare to find a song that culminates all three ingredients into a yummy entree!
The Slogan
Thinking about what graphics to use for “Research. Read. Reload.” or I may just keep it as text only. My goal is to come up with an initial collection of five shirts and see where that leads. At the moment, I have 4 designs and a few of them will actually be advertising concepts that I’m playing with… it just hit me that they would make great shirt pieces!
V12 Zagato by Aston Martin
Just when I thought I could no longer be impressed by any more car designs I come across this new concept car by Aston Martin. “This car was first unveiled in May 2011 as a modern interpretation of the famous Aston Martin and Zagato collaboration in the 50th anniversary year of the iconic DB4GT Zagato.” Continue Reading →
Product Development – Part 1
I’ve been doing product development for so long now that it is second nature to me. I didn’t know that there was much science or mystery to it until recently my cousin started asking me questions about how to get started with a product and I thought I might as well share my experience with the world because there’s nothing to be stingy about. If you can build it better than me, I should be out of the business in consideration of mother earth’s limited resources. You might actually even be doing me a favor… who knows.
The process from start to finish is one that I’ve successfully managed with both EYEBRID and REBEL SCHOLAR, and the marketing for each product was drastically different. Now I won’t claim to be a marketing expert but I do feel in working with these design firms for my product, I shouldn’t have to pay them for any marketing research because the first step as an entrepreneur is that you should know your market and product better than anyone else. Research, Read, and Reload. hmm… that’s not a bad tag line, might use that for a T-shirt. I call first dibs.
So yeah, this is the beginning of the documentary for the research and development process surrounding all future REBEL SCHOLAR product development. The think tank is quite full over here but call us the Creative Houdinis of the 21st century. I have no idea if any of this is going to work and generate profits but one thing I learned from school is that putting thoughts down on paper (just finished a 10,000 word report) actually help one think through the product because given all the tools that MBA school provides you with, it’s almost impossible to interconnect the essential points of a marketing mix with all of one’s thoughts meshed up inside the brain. We can do that with songwriting easily, but that’s because it’s a live sensation that we wait for… but business is different.
JAMBOX
So let me put it out there – JAMBOX is the benchmark for the speaker project we’re working on. From what I’ve read, popular consensus is that the $200 price point is on the high side, and from my experience I can definitely tell you that JAWBONE is making great margins on their product… or they’re getting raped from the factory. Continue Reading →
Siro French Terry Sweatpants by Alexander Wang
AW is doing it so big with this new men’s T collection. Congrats on being recognized as GQ’s “Best New Menswear Designer in America” for 2011. You can check out his craftsmanship here AW website.
Mason London Shirts
I totally want this Marilyn shirt but it’s not for sale… a few of the other designs are going for £20 at view shirts. Continue Reading →
Pedro Vilaz Designs
I discovered this artist’s work Vilaz – Works Site awhile back and he’s been continuing to kick ass in this design world. All this type of shit is amazing to me because there’s a consistent display of excellent in all these ideas. We had tried collaborating on an iPhone case design way back but the concepts never came to fruition. Definitely one of the top designers on my list!
BeoCom 2 – “Banana Phone”
I’m really curious how many BeoCom 2 pieces this company has sold pre-iPhone and post-iPhone. Is this really just a money statue that people put in their homes? I know our tech savvy generation really doesn’t use clunky phones any more… Continue Reading →
“Responding to a comment about the many attractive women in the office, he (Francis Ogilvy) explained that women who care for their appearance are more careful about other things as well.” – The King of Madison Avenue
“You and I” by GAGA
Yes I listen to good music, and if it’s Gaga or Kaka I don’t care as long as the tunes and production are top notch. What else can you say? This was great marketing!
Chat Icon Speakers
I really like these speakers! I think these designers over at thinkofthe.com did a great job turning this concept into a real life product. For $100 bucks if anything this makes a great conversation piece. Continue Reading →
“I Need a Doctor” by Em & Dre
One of the best combinations of delivery and realism by Em. This is the song that motivates me to keep striving for excellence because even the best of us struggle to find it at times.
