Scott Goodson's Cultural Movements Blog

SPAIN WINS EURO 2008, AND IT'S A NICE WIN

You've got to admire the young Spanish team who won the Euro 2008 championship this evening. Football lovers will agree that it was a good win for the game. Spain hasn't done much in the game for a long time and this win has a chance of unifying a part of the world that's seen a lot of divisions over many years.

THE MOST LUXURIOUS SNEAKERS IN THE WORLD

Scarcity has usurped exclusivity as the new 'luxury' in America and Europe. If everyone has it, IT can't be all the amazing - can it?

When it comes to sneakers, there are lot of manufactured shoes to choose from. But then there is ShoeFu - hand designed shoes, custom made. Wonderful work.

Check out the wonderful simple to use ShoeFu site here

Here are some of the wonderful pieces of walking art. ShoeFu even made an exclusive pair of Che Frogera Viva la revolucion shoes:

THE INNOVATIVE MARKETING OF BARACK OBAMA

Barack Obama, the Democratic Candidate understands how marketing has changed. His bottom up, grass roots Cultural Movement approach has already defeated one major long-time candidate who made the mistake of applying the old fashioned, brand positioning approach. Just look at Obama's website. It is really quite brilliant. It enables anyone to become a fund raiser. And a lot more. If you haven't visited the site, I strongly suggest you take the tour, if only to study the very smart use of the digital space as a vehilce to empower Obama's supporters. It's very well done indeed. Check it out here.

IS DEFACING SAO PAULO ART OR SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT?

Brazil's most common visual image is the futbol. But its fastest growing visual language is that of the social commentator, the graffiti artist, the rebel visual naughty one. All over Sao Paulo, like I mean every underpass, every city wall, every tenement building is recently repainted with the optimistic eye-candy of the street. I remember the days when New York's subway cars were the graffiti artist's canvass and the battle between Ed Koch and the artists was lost. It is twenty-five years later and I feel like I am right back in the early eighties here in Brazil. The only major difference is the content. Back then, they were outlaws and the content was an act of civil disobedience. Near the end of that movement, it became the candy colored art movement of Keith Haring, founded by Andy W. Here in Brazil it's the cutting edge of the art world from the start. And what's more I think it's more meaningful. Here, the graffiti artist is a poet as well as a voice of a new generation of urban educated visualistas. They are living in the outside lane, and the art is lovely, bright, colorful and full of human expression, joy, homor and is down right entertaining. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that their political leadership are by the people, of the people, and this would take the wind out of the anarchist's graffiti artist's sails. And the result is incredible expressions of light and color. I love it.

Oh...our flight just got called...time to head to the gate, back to NYC.

HOW TO GET INTO ADVERTISING - THE BEST HEADHUNTERS

I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best headhunters in the world. And some of the very worst. Many headhunters are independent and truly serve the interests of the talent and the agencies seeking talent. They match talent with agency needs. These headhunters may tell you that an independent agency, like a StrawberryFrog, is better for your career than a big corporate shop. Or they may say the opposite. Some of these headhunters are paid retainers by the big huge conglomerates to recruit talent to the big huge conglomerate agency no matter what the big huge agency does in terms of work. Most headhunters however are on the up and up, and do their very best to find the right home for talent. Ultimately it is up to the talent to decide. If the headhunter does protest too much, it might be worth asking whether they are being renumerated for their recrutiing to a major agency. If not then you know you are in good hands.

Some of the best headhunters I have come across are, in my opinion:

Creative:

- Anne Marie Marcus

- Dany Lennon

- Gilly Taylor

Planning:

- The Talent Business

- Sally Jones, Tangerine

Account management:

- Alasdair Ritchie, Tangerine

AWESOME WEBSITES

The interactive web rules. It's the cutting edge of marketing today. Cyber thinkers and creatives are the most influential out there. Here are some very cool new websites that will knock your socks off.

Neave Television

Zefrank

Neon bible

Mr. Picasso Head

Apathy Party 08

Autoposy

CyberRadio

The Mini Mizer

Girlsmiles

Make a snow flake

Universescale

Scion Speak

Alien Empire

BRAZIL BUSINESS TRIP - DAY ONE

I never thought I would be so excited about landing at an airport. But Brazil has mystic powers. Perhaps it has to do with having flown directly over the Amazon for several hours. Kevin (our ECD and my partner), Chip (our head of strategy) and I were treated very well on Tam, the national airline of Brazil on the NYC to Sao Paulo flight. Most fortunately, we were met by Ronaldo at the airplane jetty and whisked right through the long passport control line.

We may have traded the sunny and warm skies of New York for the grey skies of Sao Paulo in winter, but the  joys of Brazil are not to be undone by mere clouds.

The first stop was to the hotel Unique. WOW, the hotel is the closest thing I've seen to a modern architectural representation of Noah's Ark. Designed by a Japanese Brazilian, it is one of Sao Paulo's finest boutique hotels. The lobby, the design, the rooms, everything is a joy to be in. We certainly are not going to be roughing it.

Shortly, we will be off to visit with our Frog brothers and sisters at StrawberryFrog Brazil, and then on to our wonderful Brazilian client.

Later...

CHINA TO TOP U.S. IN BEIJING MEDALS, BUT WHERE IS BURKINA FASO?

AP just reported that PricewaterhouseCoopers will release a survey tomorrow declaring that (using their professional accounting process), they've figured out that China will win one more medal than the USA (88 - 87) and top the overall table for the first time.

Well then, what's the point in having the games then. We all know the outcome.

HOW BORING! I really dislike these kind of PR surveys intended to shine the torch on the brilliance of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Olympics already have been watered down with the light of commercialism. Pierre de Coubertin said at the birth of the modern Olympics “The important thing in life is not to triumph but to compete.”

And now this wonderful report from an accounting firm. I wish China, the US and the Bakino Faso Olympic team all the luck in the world. We just don't need a scientific report on the outcome just yet. I prefer the nail biting. It's must more exhilarating.

If you are, on the other hand, most partial to knowing the outcomes in advance. Here is the report from AP:

“As the host nation in Beijing and (with) an economy which has grown very strongly since 2004, the medal ‘target’ of 88 for China according to our model is much higher than its actual medal totals in Athens (63) or Sydney (59),” said John Hawksworth, the report’s author.

China was third in overall medals at Athens 2004, behind first-place United States (102) and Russia (92). China was second in gold medals behind the U.S. in 2004—32 to 36.

Hawksworth predicted Russia will drop to third place at Beijing with 79 medals overall, down 13, followed by Germany (43), Australia (41), Japan (34), France (30), Italy (29), Britain (28) and South Korea (27).

The report lists significant factors behind a country’s performance at the Olympics since 1988, including population, average income level and being the host nation.

“The bottom line is that size matters, but it is not everything,” Hawksworth said. “David can sometimes slay Goliath in the Olympic arena.”

India remains a “significant underperformer” and is predicted to get six medals in Beijing, compared with one silver medal at Athens.

“The most plausible explanation is that, with the exception of (field) hockey, Indian sport tends to be focused on events that are not included in the Olympics, most importantly cricket,” Hawksworth said.

Last year, Italian Olympic official Luciano Barra forecast the United States would beat China in both gold medals and overall medals won.

BY PIERS FAWKES - STRAWBERRYFROG GOING MORE GLOBAL

StrawberryFrog Going More Global
By Piers Fawkes 

In the wake of what seems to be a shift in the tide of what European countries hold

the most appeal in terms of global marketing, StrawberryFrog appears to have

taken notice. The shop has moved it's global operation from Amsterdam to

London...

New Marketing News On Marktd 

NUTS FOR BOOMERS - STRAWBERRYFROG'S LATEST CULTURAL MOVEMENT

From Brandweek:

 
The snack food category is known for being several things, but inspirational?

Frito-Lay thinks it can be and is positioning its new nut-based, Boomer-targeted snack line, True North as "a truly inspired natural nut snack."

Though a TV, print and online campaign breaking this week from StrawberryFrog, New York, talks up taste and prominently features almonds, the aim is to go a bit deeper than the usual snack ads, said Michelle Rule, director-marketing for True North.

"We're defining it as a purpose in life or a calling," she said of the brand's name. "Our calling was to bring inspiration to the nut category."

In other words, Frito-Lay is hoping that its line, which reinterprets nut snacks as Pistachio Crisps and Peanut Crunchers, will inspire others to redefine their own lives as well.

Ads play up the Zen-like nature of the pitch. A TV spot shows almonds falling in rows like dominos that present the image of flowers when they land. A print ad showing another nut mosaic explains: "Some movements start with a rally. Others, a concert. Ours started with an almond."

Online takes a similar tack. Noting that Boomers are more likely to search for information than download viral videos, Rule said Frito-Lay has bought up several search terms that are more aligned with inspiration than nuttiness. (She declined to disclose which terms, exactly, that the PepsiCo unit bought.)

The campaign coincides with a national rollout for the line which has been in various markets since February. A nut-based snack, which provides more protein and thus fewer empty calories than carbohydrate-laden items like potato chips, fits in with Frito-Lay's health and wellness platform as well.

"It's a good idea," said Ken Harris, president of Cannondale Associates, Evanston, Ill. "Every area of snacking is being examined for benefits beyond food satiation and snacking for snacking's sake." Still, Harris said it remained to be seen if the line would succeed.

Rule declined to disclose sales information, but said the company has been "very pleased" with sales so far. Rule also declined to name a budget for the campaign except to say it would be "significant."

Frito-Lay spent $136 million on measured media in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Those figures do not include online spending.