Maybe brands could understand people more by thinking less about them
Metro Pictures in NY are currently showing an artist called Andreas Hofer who makes pictures about what Germany would have been like in 1930. Leaving aside Germany, the Nazis et al, isn’t this work just about his obsession? As OCD becomes a more dominant cultural theme in art, I wonder if this is our cultural equivalent of the Freak Show–”I’m glad I’m not (mad) like him”?
And are we going to start seeing OCD in mass consumer culture too?
Apart from the fact that they both own successful retail chains (except that of course, Anita Roddick doesn’t own it anymore), what would these two have in common? And apart from the fact that they’re both featured in their own window displays with soft focus and a gold signature. Surely, this must be one of those women-in-business charity promotions? I didn’t see anything to say it was, but I’d feel more comfortable knowing it was and they forgot the branding than to think these two decided to adorn their own windows simultaneously.
Does anything seem a little odd about the ads for the Alfa Spider? It feels like either the ‘landscape porn’ format, the execution (all that flapping skin) or the brand stayed up too late and drank too much Red Bull. Unfortunately, it’s playing for the brand. It feels like it’s trying a little too hard to stay awake–compare this with the get-up-early-towels-on-the-sunloungers approach of BMW in their See How It Feels spot.
So, is this inadvertently, a little too realistic an interpretation of Alfa, maybe a little too revealing, a tad too much on-brand?
Though this (un)idea started with the idea of un-planning, it was also a way of exploring or even creating a kind of anti-brand (something i’ve always wanted to do). (un)branded, if you like.
Some years ago, when I was doing Artomatic, we did some bin liners in a valuely familiar pattern (until we were told not to), which were a comment on people’s relationship with branded goods (a bin liner is about the only consumer good you’ll buy nowadays that’s unbranded).
So, I was wondering about what an (un)brand might be like. And I think (un) could be that.
I don’t really have any answers yet to: What would it be? What it do? Who’s it for? Where is it sold? How would it behave? How would it communicate? That it’s not starting there is part of the idea. A brand is usually a worthwhile (to someone) product or service. It seems appropriate that it shouldn’t start in any of those places. I think it should exist to make people think about their relationship to brands and what they do.
So, I think the first thing it shouldn’t be is planned–as in unintentional. Let’s see what happens.
It won’t be a bin liner.
This all started from a thought about what the opposite of planning might be like. No research, just what consumers use. It quickly struck me that there are some brands that seem better suited to this than others–so these might be planned and unplanned brands. Continue reading ‘(un) planned brands?’
I’ve long held a theory that it’s possible to recognise people who were fans of The Clash in London. These people are distinctive, not just by their age, more by their attitude. The Clash turned over culture. They told you it was OK to challenge everything. They were the only people who really meant it. And, I think that’s why you can tell when you meet the people who witnessed it. Mark Earls is one.
From the age of the occupants and the style of the large letters down the side of the car, it seemed unlikely these nice folks were in the fruit preserves business (I might be wrong).
Advocates of the Japanese tuner cars, carry manufacterers’ logos, as race cars do, reflecting how tuning road cars as reached the professional levels of race teams. Here, we have what looks like the opposite: people decorating their cars with self-expressive graphics that look like they might be a logo, but aren’t.
I’m sure you’ve noticed the uncanny similarity between the ‘whole train’ graffiti executions by the new stars of art and culture and the cynical attempts to raid the attention of innocent passengers by rail authorities around the world–the same ones who prosecute the said same artists for, er, decorating trains. Do you think, perhaps, they might be related?
The train happened to stop next to this rather unambitious bit of graffiti, but when I stared at it, it told a strange story: the wall had been painted white around the outline of the tag, extending the entire length of the building, but leaving the in-fill of the tag bare brickwork. (forgive my awful photo, the train was very crowded).
Why? Is this the new trend, combination graffiti-artist cum decorators? (perhaps a way for graffs to legitimise themselves by taking up the usual resting profession of the starving artist?) Is this Banky’s legacy, since his stuff is now protected by preservation orders?
Will they be doing commissioned portraits next?
Those traffic information signs usually have too little to say. Wouldn’t it be nice if one of them said “hello Bob” as you drove under it?
