SWANG, old and new ads, reading is fundamental, some jobs, etc
lots of words in this one! But its Friday 🏌️♀️🏌️♀️
Hiiii! second email this week and it’s a long one. Today I have a little Q&A which blew out the length, but gmail doesn’t always allow it. So please make sure you click on it so you can read in full in browser :) Happy friday everyone!
I’ll be here just Swangin’
Last week I wrote about Tiger’s departure from Swoosh and how exciting it was as Golf is cresting into this cultural moment; and not long after, it was announced that Jason Day ditched Nike to head over to Malbon, a filipino-owned Golf brand which has been bubbling for a while. Almost immedately, the inimitable Modi announced his initiative Swang and it was so exciting to hear about given all the energy around golf that I wanted to chat with him and relay it to this little community. If you’re working in Sports, Brands, entertainment (which 90% of you are), you’ll find his answers insightful and interesting.
Swang is ostensibly a community of people picking up the game of golf and making it their own.
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GG: What makes golf fun for you personally? Has it taken the place of other sports/activities in your life, or is it a net new addition?
M: now being part of the golf community, i finally get why people are obsessed. the fact that i can be active while catching up with friends or bonding with someone new is clutch. yeah, you’re hitting the ball and tryna get the ball in the hole, but you get a chance to catch up, laugh, talk shit, hear somebody’s story. at 37, i’m all partied out - and this is coming from a former music festival founder and nightlife promoter. in this very moment, i’d rather go play a 9 hole par 3 course than grab a meal - it’s a solid workout, arguably more intimate, and probably cheaper, too. it’s also a sport where age doesn’t matter, and where totally different worlds can collide. i was at american rag the other day and ended up randomly chatting with mark werts [founder of american rag] who is in his late 70s. he told me him and scHoolboy q played for 3 days straight. i don’t know what other sport where that can happen and it still stays competitive.
i actually did a vision board at my bestie's house this weekend, and i put a golf bag on it because i wanted to be intentional in working the sport into my life. i’m tryna cut some things out, but definitely making time for this. plus, everybody my age is tearing their achilles or ACL hooping! i’m not tryna go out like that.
GG: You mentioned feeling inspired by hypegolf and seeing how the game has changed. It feels like we're only just on the cusp of that big shift, so what do you see the game being like in 5 years?
M: it's all so new to me - i haven't even really put any thought to what 5 years will look like. tiger just started his TGL, which is this crazy new set up that leans more into a simulation style of play, and i imagine we'll see more of those types of leagues. i saw an NFL player bought a bunch of simulators for his locker room, and the basketball fan in me was eager to watch the replays of steph curry get a hole-in-one at the american century championship. i peeped how the PGA's social channels are connecting more with pop culture to expand their audience. i love how top golf basically became dave and busters for adults, and i went to this cool, adults only putt-putt style experience in new york called swingers. when jason day left nike for malbon, i (and i feel like everybody, across industries, whether you cared about golf or not) was like:
the culture around the game is changing so quickly, and it’s fun being part of that movement. my man bradford is sponsored by adidas golf and has a golf podcast that covers mental health. john, my co-founder in swang, has a fire clothing brand and lifestyle company, inspired by his golf journey, but definitely not only for golfers. my boy [colin] landforce struck gold on socials by leaning into beoming an authority of golf products. i feel like people will continue to build community around the sport. just continue to go but, even seeing what we've started with swang, there's hella people who look like me, dress like me, and think like me who are picking up clubs for the first time, or who are more excited to openly embrace a sport they've played for years but never really had a community to lean into it with. i love it.
there's still so much work to be done. for that vision board i was talking about, i hit a magazine stand and grabbed the latest issue of the golf digest, but didn't see one photo of a black or brown person in it. last week, i hit a calloway event where they revealed their newest driver, AI smoke [it uses some AI tech to help you hit the ball better...you'd prolly be better off googling the specifics] to the public, and i definitely stood out. not in a bad way, it just...didn't look like swang. they definitely had rapper scarface, an avid golfer, make a rap for the campaign, but it felt forced, and a little corny, so they might've missed the mark with that one. A for effort though?
GG: I love how you are kinda building as you go, in public, & embracing that. As of this moment right now, (knowing it could change!) what are the major goals for Swang?
M: i feel like the new thing is to just forget about perfection. i'm very much a novice, i don't know much, i'm super transparent about that. even how i go about learning to play the game is probably unorthodox. my algos feed me a bunch of golf stuff, and then i take what we learn and go out and hit some balls with john or whoever wants to join
i'm leaning into my event production sensibilities, but also tapping my tribe and finding people who are great at what they do to help us build this plane while we fly it. we’re the future of the sport, and we’re growing the game through community-led events, prioritizing education, accessibility, and inclusion. we want to have instructors on-site to provide the fundamentals to newcomers, or those who just want tip and tricks. we want to cover the costs for balls, rentals, and when we start moving from just going to the driving range, subsidizing trips. we want to establish swang as "a safe place to suck" - something john coined that i love. basically just encouraging each other and making sure people everybody feels included and not like they're not good enough to be there. we also would be open to partnering with organizations who see the vision and can help us achieve these goals.
who knows, this could be something that turns regional, national, international, with chapters, maybe some invitational tournaments or smaller activations and experiences, and brand sponsorships. i want to just make sure we're not doing the same old golf shit, but instead mix our worlds and lived experiences and sauce into what we're doing so it's new and refreshing.
GG: What do you think Tiger Woods is gonna do next?
M: no idea. when i worked on nike's campus in beaverton, we would have a lot of the big conferences and meetings at the tiger woods building, and i was always in awe of how massive the building was. seeing the news of him parting ways had me thinking if they're gonna tear that shit down now!
i hope he builds his own shit, and does everything he can to help grow the game. the first time i ever hit a golf ball was definitely inspired by him. my dad saw a black golfer and said, "we can do this too."
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Original Research from Stone Island
Dave + Jason Statham feature in this editorial campaign. Brands who aren’t afraid to use a boat-load of copy….. we love you!
Mojo Supermarket seems to be doing an ad for facebook marketplace ft. someone elses ad.
It is a smart idea for facebook marketplace!
Remember when the future was fun? Obsessing over old fudge hair color ads…
Just wanted to share some. these were top tier back in the day.
Makes me think of like, old playstation ads where futurism was exciting and felt less existentially threatening.
Here’s a list of companies that did Layoffs this week
Discord, Google, Beam Benefits, Amazon Prime Video, Citrix, X, Twitch, Branch, Humane, Unity, Lever, InVision, Frontdesk, Xerox, BlackRock, Cloudflare (unannounced layoffs, shared by ex-CF folks on LinkedIn, Tiktok), Duolingo. There are going to be plenty more ahead of Q4’s earnings calls. I know this is boring, but the stock market has been RIPPING, particularly late last year, so it’s hard not to look at these layoffs (most of these companies have already done a round or two) as nothing short of sheer greed. Here’s a nice reply i saw on X - will leave it at that 💚 (gen Z already understand this - its my fellow millennials i worry about)
Books are trending. Like a lot!
This week saw the launch of a reading-related newsletter from the strategist/nymag’s Tembe named Extracurricular, [subscribe, obviously], which sparked a lil bit of an observation about reading in general kind of (hopefully?) coming back into favor. It started with booktok exploding a few years back, and since then I feel like im not alone in seeing Book Clubs trending up in general, out of the mass-market Oprah wine mom vibe and into more niche/focused territory. I definitely got served tiktoks (they know i’m a dork i guess) about this event “Reading Rhythms” which got an nyt write-up in Dec, describing itself as ‘not a book club, but a reading party’. I live not that far away from Book Club on E 3rd, so this idea isn’t new per se, but interesting to see more of it.
Last year also saw the emergence of public recognition of the library in the zeitgeist. This became urgent because of real policy shifts (Eric Adams has taken a significant chunk of funding away from the Libraries in New York), and even tiktok characters like Mykal The Librarian came into our lives. Hello, Jay Z had an exhibition at the Library.
Ever ahead of the curve, Phoebe (who many of the folks on this list know!) launched her Public Library space in london in 2021, with a supporting Deep Read pod/reading list not long after in mid-2022, and has since expanded her offering into a literary-focused consultancy, Salon Studio. It’s a smart strategy when celebrities like Dua Lipa are spinning up book clubs. The Guardian did a deep dive on other celeb book clubs, from 2022, and there’s a shondaland piece about the book club boom from Oct- there is even speculation that Emma Chamberlain has one coming soon. Reading culture is thriving.
& dont tell me you haven’t seen someone you know post this!:
I really think this is all a reaction to just how ‘meh’ the internet leaves people feeling. digital content feels low effort or low-vibration because its just so available, inescapable and endless. Reading a book- and i mean really reading it - is something that actually leaves you feeling good.
so what are we all reading?
Shoe Dog Zone
New Balance Randomevent 1906R is giving luxurious APC Paris-trenchcoat-if-it-were-a-sneaker vibes. 1906R is clearly their big collab model right now.
These ones coming via a Kith collab are tasty too:
Puma is collabing with Coperni:
ad is getting absolutely flamed in the comments…. i think the shoe itself is interesting however! Cool to see a modern silhouette from them that seems to have an appealing materiality. could see it working for the Alo set girlies in the West Village. I know they are pushing the mostro hard right now but genuinely feel innovation/modernity is a more interesting proposition. We shall see.
In other yellow sneaker news - ASICS x CP Company is another notch in the belt for ASICS. Big win for them
AwakeNY are restoring the feeling with a collab w ny graff legend JA one
Chris Echevarria of blackstock + weber has designed a collab with Sperry that is exactly what the people are looking for, on sale Jan 18:
Happy Pitti Uomo szn to all who observe. Magliano was seems to be the press fav - it’s very wearable, with delicious detail.
Cool Jobs if u want one!
(New section, let me know if its useful. Noting the layoffs and sometimes people send me these, so hopefully it can bring some eyes to the opportunities out there)
Vuori are hiring an Editorial Director somewhere in California
Comme Des Garcon are hiring a Head of Marketing/Press in NYC
JD Sports are hiring a Head of Marketing for Australia (in Sydney)
The GAP is hiring a Snr. Director of Editorial + Voice (San Francisco).
Intuit (which owns Mailchimp, TurboTax, Quickbooks etc) is hiring for a VP of Brand Creative/Storytelling (Mountain View)
thanks yall! have a lovely weekend.
GG x