Culture (Re)interpreted

Instigation Nation | Just Cause it's Cool | Passion Plays | Social Observations
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One of the great things about having all this content just laying around the interwebs is that the opportunity to go back and relive the past is open to just about anyone without a two-bit history degree or a time machine. Case in point, the series of blog posts, Rembert Explains the ’80s over on Grantland (where else?). Here, Rembert Brown, who came of age during the nineties and the oughts, offers his take on…

Futura 2000: Transmedia Back in The Day

Just Cause it's Cool | Passion Plays | Peer Power | Social Instigation | Social Observations
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Pioneering NYC street artist Futura 2000 & The Clash collaborated back in the 80s on this track, bringing together  b-boy culture and British punk. And 30 years later, it still sounds awesome! Back in high school,  was totally digging on these two different culture movements coming together and feeding off each other. It touched art, fashion, music and slang. A vibe and attitude that went truly transmedia. It also set the stage for a lot…

The Culture of Geek

Instigation Nation | Just Cause it's Cool | Passion Plays | Peer Power | Purpose Driven | Social Instigation | Social Observations
Geek

We live in a culture where ideas, trends and other assorted memes often spread out from niches and become pervasive across larger segments of society. This phenomena ties back to the rise of Geek culture — what we sometimes refer to as being “geeked-out”. Today, one can be deemed a ‘Geek’ across any number of areas, from music, to street fashion, to role playing games. It’s all about really being into that one thing. Where…

The Culture of New

Brand Building | Passion Plays | Social Instigation | Social Observations
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New. The need for difference. Something fresh, fun, never  before encountered, unexplored. ‘New’ is sometimes all it takes to grab our attention, stop us in our tracks or take a deeper look at a product. What is it about New that is so invigorating to us? Is it because we get bored easily? Despite all the tools, toys and entertainment outlets designed to keep us interested and engaged. Or perhaps we are wired on a…

Of Memes and Marketing

Passion Plays | Social Instigation | Social Observations | Uncategorized
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A meme is an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. While genes transmit biological information, memes are said to transmit ideas and belief information. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena (via Wikipedia). Memes are the backbone of marketing communications. That said, there is…

P5: Where you at?

Just Cause it's Cool | Passion Plays
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Pizzicato 5 were one of my favorite bands back in the 90s. Like a lot of my favorite bands they managed to evoke retro-cool (and I love the mod 60s) while feeling very much of the moment. Twiggy was just a silly song that sounded great loud with a tacky cocktail in a room filled with orange naugahyde. /enjoy

Animal House and the Archtyping of Social Brands

Brand Building | Passion Plays | Peer Power | Social Instigation | Social Observations
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Brands are often an unwelcome presence on social media platforms. They tend to interrupt conversations with blatant sales pitches. They then often ask for information we don’t deem them entitled to receive. Our email addresses. Answers to incessantly dry, pedantic surveys. Urgent commands to pimp their promotions to our friends. You get the idea. When it comes to social media, many brands and the companies that run them could use an etiquette primer. But where…

Social Instigation JAMS!

Passion Plays | Peer Power | Social Instigation | Social Observations
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A little musical Social Instigation — Love some of the mash-ups being created from individual musician’s YouTube videos. The individual parts are cool, but the sum JAMS! Thx to @brianwaka for sharing.

The Passion of the Product

Brand Building | Passion Plays | Purpose Driven
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We just spent a few days at the Natural Product Expo West trade show in Anaheim. I’ve always been a fan of this show. It’s a chance to meet tons of people who do what they love- create products that are good for you, good for the environment and are often unique. Many of these products go on to grow into major brands-  Amy’s Kitchen or Kashi are two that come to mind. This trade…