Subway surfing, Ralph forever, New Rules of Brand, + Proof of Personality
Just a lil mishmash today. pass it on xx
Hey yall!!! Thank you for opening this email, lets just start there. I feel like the Australians on this list have finally gotten back to work this week, so thanks for joining us back at the keyboard, altho I admittedly just got an OOO email bounceback from someone who said he was gonna be out until January 17th . Absolutely legendary antipodean work-life balance being demonstrated this holiday season. I am forever inspired.
As a reminder if anything in this newsie is interesting to you please pay it forward by sharing it with a friend who you think may be into it. 🥰 This edition is extra marketing nerd-y, prob less on the general cool shit side, sorry. (but also, feel free to tell me what u want more of!)
This is me in the fake sleet/flurries this weekend:
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Silver Surfers
Absolutely wild/fascinating look at Subway Surfers from skate mag Jenkem here. Made me realize how much i miss this kind of content, very early 2010s ZIRP-era Vice vibes (but this is much better). an intense way for kids to try and feel something? Not much to add here, just a sick watch.
What’s Ralph up to?
Brazilian skater Gabriel Fortunato is modeling for Ralph, holding his skateboard (thx Romain for putting the name to the face). Interesting. The fleece is cold too tbh. But i’m watching what Ralph does closely these days as everyone else (specifically on mulberry/crosby st) has been chasing him so heavily for an uncomfortably long period of time. I absolutely loved the recent RL Artist in Residence collaboration with Naiomi Glasses also.
I would absolutely love to see an all-out Ralph renaissance where it feels a little more accessible and day-to-day than its current positioning. :)
Drake’s “DreamCrew” have optioned out the story of the PayPal Mafia
lolllll
I’m not sure if anyone else caught this on All In over the weekend (don’t listen to this podcast unless you want to listen to a bunch of venture capital billionaire nonsense), but apparently Drake’s production studio Dream Crew have optioned out the story of PayPal mafia, based on Jimmy Soni’s ‘Founders’. I found a little info on it here, but no mention of Drake beyond the podcast episode mention. It seems as if a bunch of folks in the OG Paypal crew are involved/will have EP credit so i am guessing it will be a glammed-up hype piece vs. having much of a critical lens, but still an interesting play from The Boy, and likely to be a bolster for PayPal. It comes off the back of not only a bunch of Silicon Valley/Start-up related prestige TV a few years ago, but big branded story productions like the Blackberry movie and Air.
New Rules of Brand Marketing by Ana Andjelic // The New Role of the CMO
This is a (highly paywalled) brand-y person newsletter that I subscribe to and personally loved the latest installment about the New Rules of Brand Marketing. I don’t know if i’m the only one feeling this but lately i feel like a completely disparate and rag tag bunch of people with absolutely wildly divergent backgrounds and goals have been lumped into teams together under this semi useless umbrella of “Marketing”. I’m not sure if it is yielding great results or just macro corporate/client/agency tensions? Anyway, because of how easy it is to feel like an alien in that context, when i see things that feel so closely aligned to how i see it, it’s hugely validating. She writes:
“The new brand marketing is a strategy of cultural awareness, emotional resonance, entertainment, celebrity products, fandom-building, and market expansion. This strategy is easier to understand once it’s taken out of the context of marketing and put into the domain of cultural influence.
The mechanism of this influence is bottoms-up rather than top-down, as brand marketing has been known for; circular rather than linear; collaborative rather than promotional; value-creating rather than an overhead; and future-facing rather than immediate.”
This called back to my mind a comment from the inimitable Katie Dreke i’d seen pop up, responding to how CMO’s hired in companies with short term focus quickly burn out:
Best and Worst Trends of 2023 from Haute Le Mode. Just a cute lil snapshot at the gen z fashion #opinions
My girl Florencia put me on to this qt account, i mostly LOVED the quiet luxury takedown in this video lol. Nick Susi said something last week about Newtons Third Law applying to cultural shifts - every cultural phenomenon will have a counterreaction. I think we are now living through / embarking on the quiet luxury reverberation .
Bimma Williams is giving people the codes
LinkedIn is such a cursed place, but every now and then someone wonderful shines thru the newsfeed and Bimma is a great example. He decided to go on his own entrepreneurial journey after spending years in the sneaker industry inhouse in brand management/marketing roles. He’s teaching a zoom lecture tomorrow on how to land your first freelance client while working your 9-5. I think he gives such solid, clear, actionable advice so i’m spreading the good word here for yall.
Proof Of Personality // Sue Bird has a new job as Chief Strategy Officer
Deep Blue is the recently-formed offshoot of Giant Spoon dedicated to sports, with a launch focus on Womens Sports specifically. I am really intrigued to see where they go! Definitely cannot hurt to have such an icon in your c-suite, i for one would also like to volunteer if Sue bird needs some keynoting support. Fr though, I think it is interesting how these celebrity names are getting thrown in the mix on new agency announcements, like the recent Blackstone spin-out “FundamentalCo”. I feel icky putting Jenna Lyons and Blackstone (the private equity firm that crossed $1 trillion worth of assets last year) in the same sentence, but if she wants to be there then thats her choice. I am wondering if we are reaching the point in the agency x brand continuum where agencies need Proof of Personality or actual independent Cultural output to compete?
🥾👟 Shoe Dog section 👟🥾
The previously teased Salehe NB 1906’s have been formally announced (dropping Jan 11) and they are so good:
absolutely perfect Rave sneaker. no notes.
Tiger and Nike are parting ways. Very interesting given golf has actual cultural clout rn after a slow burn w the various kith collabs and metalwoods of the world. I am secretly rooting for him to start his own sick golf lifestyle brand.
Sambas took out the top 2 (making up (35.2% of the total vote) slots for Sneaker of the Year in the throwing fits annual Fitties. Its interesting. im not sure if this means the audience likes them, or just an acknowledgement of #impact.
Wales Bonner x adidas Samba - 24.6%adidas Samba - 10.6%
i’m still thinking about these Merrels. big salute to Ruffles.
Popcaan, my fav dancehall singer is learning to skate in my preferred colorway of the Salomon XT-6 and also cunty Prada boots. Confirmed icon status.
Thats all friends! Have a fabulous week.
GG x