The last issue of Business Week had an interesting article about Nike’s eco-friendly practices, but their decision to keep their “green-ness” quiet. A few years ago, Nike made a big effort to go green with the Considered Collection. The line was not as successful as hoped, and public efforts to go green were dropped.
Nike’s efforts to be eco-conscious did not end with the Considered Collection - they just stopped making those efforts public. “We want to do more and say less says Lorrie Vogel, who is responsible for Nike’s green business practices. For example, the Air Jordan XX3 released last year was designed so all of the pieces fit together like a puzzle, thereby cutting down on the amount of plastic used to produce the shoes. Not only that, the sole is made of recycled bits of old sneakers. Nike is also introducing green manufacturing: They even invented a sewing machine that speeds up production time as a way to cut down on electricity. So why are they keeping this quiet? Isn’t green the new black?
Since the Nike Considered line didn’t do well at retail, it seems that Nike has assumed that its customers don’t care about responsible business practices. I disagree. I think the Nike Considered line didn’t do well at retail because the shoes were just plain ugly. Nike was ahead of the curve with the concept of the Considered line and I commend them for that. Where they went wrong is where many companies go wrong: There seems to be a misconception that to be “green” a product has to look very crunch, granola, hippy-esque - you know, something someone would wear and douse themselves in patchouli.
More and more, we’re seeing companies take a “green” approach without sacrificing style and design. Ultimately, when it comes to purchasing things we wear, we have to like the way they look. The Considered collection didn’t look like a Nike - so why did Nike think that Nike customers would buy them? I think that if the Considered collection were revisited with an eye toward staying true to the Nike aesthetic we’ve come to know and love, the results would be entirely different. It’s a shame that they are keeping quiet about all the good they are doing because their Considered shoes were called “Air Hobbits” at one point. I think Nike should give their customers more credit for being conscious and responsible - and stay true to the look that their customers expect and want.
If you’ve spent any time on M.I.S.S., then you know how we feel about the choice of Madonna for the Louis Vuitton campaign, and her range of poses. That said, we always love a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a photo shoot and product campaign. You get to see Madonna and Marc Jacobs interact, hear about how Marc chose Madonna, and see the gorgeous array of Louis Vuitton bags and accessories just waiting to be plucked for use in the shoot. “I Die!” Read the full story to see more stills.
We’re not the only ones taking the calendar game seriously. To coincide with the launch of its newest location in NYC, the Standard Hotel has released the Standard High 2009 Calendar, featuring staff from several of its locations. The calendar has a high school theme and features all the usual suspects like the jocks, the bullies, the heartthrob and the cheerleaders. The calendar was shot by Michael Elinsshot, who has worked with the likes of Rolling Stone, Time and Vanity Fair.
Accompanying the calendar is a video montage of the staff in the calendar in action, set to the tunes of Jeremy Jay. The Standard is one of my favorite hotels and this calendar is true to their aesthetic and off-kilter vibe. They’ve done a clever job of letting you bring a bit of the hotel home with you. Read the full story to see The Nerd, The Prom Queen, The Stoner and The Activist. The calendar sells online for only $20 and is limited to an edition of 500 copies. Is this the new Pirelli Calendar? Maybe not, but I can see it being something people would be into collecting.
Last month I gave you “My Two Cents” about the Madonna for Louis Vuitton campaign. Guess what? I have more “cents.” Did you honestly think I would see the picture above and NOT have something to say? In my first post, I was over Madonna in leotards. Now, not only am I over Madonna in leotards, I am over crotch shots. It’s so vulgar. Why does one of the most iconic luxury brands need a money shot to sell its product? I didn’t get her as a choice for a model, and I do not get this photo. Madonna please stop. I want to remember you in all of your Everybody, Borderline and Holiday glory. You’ve gotten older. Please age gracefully. Madonna, please put your choo-cha away . . . I’m just sayin’.
In March 2009, Jimmy Fallon will join the ranks of Johny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien as a late-night talk show host with his new show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I have to admit, I’ve had a tiny crush on Jimmy Fallon since his SNL days, especially because of his stint on Weekend Update. But, I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about his pretty genius campaign to build hype for his new show. I think it’s genius because he’s really utilizing all the new media and “web 2.0″ that he has at his disposal. He’s set up a blog where he “vlogs” or posts video entries where he shows you the behind the scenes of getting the show together. In his first entry, he shows you “Studio 6″ where he’ll be filming his show - a studio once used by Milton Berle and Johnny Carson. He lets you know that you can submit questions on his site and he will answer them. At the end of the first entry he introduces us to his house band - none other than Phillytown’s THE ROOTS! Crazy. The hype machine is working - I already want to tune it.
For his next episode we see Jimmy reading comments to his blog post (he actually reads them!) and we get to see the model for his new set. In my industry it’s been customary to see “behind the scene’s blogs” - hell, I’m guilty of it myself. I’ve blogged about being at the screen printer, fulfilling orders and attending tradeshows. But, this is the first time I’m seeing this kind of “behind the scenes” action for a television show - and I have to say, it’s interesting. Most people have never been exposed to the inner workings of a television show, so to share that is a pretty big deal. His second post ends with Jimmy linking and plugging all the social medial sites that he’s on - and I mean all. I don’t think I saw any social media site missing from that page. You can myspace, facebook, tweet, flicker, etc., to your heart’s content. He even has a Yelp page - I had no idea you could “Yelp” someone, but apparently you can.
Jimmy Fallon (or he and his marketing team) are definitely taking the interactive experience to a whole new level. I think this is the start of something that we’ll see a lot more of as people watch more stuff online these days - might as well get them while they’re on the computers, right? Bravo to Jimmy Fallon. His blog is working, he’s already got a viewer. To be a part of the experience visit his site.
I love when companies embrace pop culture lore about their brands, rather than pretend that they don’t exist. This commercial about the sultry triple chocolate sensation of Premium M & M’s is a prime example of feeding into our childhood memories of eating M & M’s with each color meaning different things. Bravo M & M’s. I love you just the way you are, but I think I’ll have to try out the premium ones for the grown & sexy.
I was watching Top Chef last night and I had the pleasure of viewing an iTunes ad that I have never seen before. The ad features Coldplay and promotes their new album called Viva La Vida out on June 17th. I instantly recognized Chris Martin’s voice, but what really did it for me was the visuals. It was beautiful. Graphically, it moved with the artists and illustrated the music but, most importantly, was still recognizable as an Apple product. I could go on and on about how pretty it was but you should just see for yourself if you already haven’t. And for your Coldplay fans, if you go to iTunes now, you can pre-order Viva La Vida now.
A while back I posted about how I thought Keira Knightley was not the right person for the Coco Mademoiselle ads. “Though stunningly beautiful, I didn’t think Ms. Knightly embodied the class, elegance and style of Mlle. Chanel.” I meant to add that I thought Natalie Portman would have been a better choice. I just saw this photo of Ms. Portman wearing Chanel recently and it made me think of that again. Chanel announced a while back that Audrey Tautou would be the new face of Chanel No. 5 so I guess that’s out of the question for now. We’ll have to see, but my vote for the next face of a Chanel fragrance is N.P.
I’ve seen these LeSportsac ads for some time now and I finally had to come out and say how much I hate them. Not only are they not aesthetically pleasing, they are downright scary. It’s really upsetting to me because I am a long-time LeSportsac customer and a huge fan of their product but these ads make me want to throw it all way (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating just a tad). They have great collections, work with amazing guest designers and then they mess it all up with this invisible person ad campaign. Perhaps they thought it was a clever way of showing the product but here’s some free advice: Your product is wonderful, please let it speak for itself rather than using weird Photoshop techniques. I tore this ad out of the new Teen Vogue - a full page ad runs around $20,000 last time I checked so LeSportsac can chalk this ad up to a colossal waste of money since I don’t know anyone who would want to run out and buy a bag after seeing this:
