Brand Timeline Portrait

via my boss, IV, a very cool visual of how we interact with brands. kudos to Jane of the Dear Jane Sample blog for her honesty and thoroughness.

i think our planning department is going to give this a go. maybe i'll share....

Numa Numa gets paid

this is just brilliant. a nice recap of recent Internet stardom.

Banjo Brothers = great customer service

the light blogging has been a result of lots of great things going on at the day job, and the finalization of the summer shirts for Interwoven. dug a quick hole in my morning to post on a fantastic example of great customer service. the company is Banjo Brothers, a cycling-focused bag company. i purchased the above messenger bag this weekend from Volker Bicycles and got it home to find i had no idea how to adjust the shoulder strap. i don't claim to be the smartest guy, but i should be able to figure out how to adjust some buckles.

brought it to work and had some others look at it - we were puzzled.

so, not expecting much, i e-mailed the Banjo Brothers customer service address a few pictures of the section of the strap i was puzzled by and hoped for the best.

about 15 minutes later, co-founder Eric Leugers wrote back with a video attached and the following image, which he wrote on with specific instructions.


turns out, the ring was pulled into the buckle during shipping or what have you and i wasn't a complete moron (this time).

i quickly fixed the issue and now adjust on the fly as the bags are famous for allowing. and i'm that much happier about my purchase.

moreover, Eric's won a loyal customer in me, and many new customers in the people at work who are up on their own cycling commuter bags.

i received a couple more e-mails after the solution and each time Eric's personality was apparent and his passion for his company was obvious. kudos to him for prioritizing his large workload and allowing time to talk directly to the people who he built his company to serve.

Brand tags

if you are of the mindset that customers own brands you'll be inspired by the Brand Tags experiment.

if you think what i just said is b.s., you'll get your pants in a knot over after seeing how normal, everyday people - aka consumers - tag some of the most famous brands. it's not all good, but it's all real.

brilliant.

tape scratching

you've heard of DJ's scratching records. the influx of computer tech to aid in the mixing of records for the purpose of getting one's groove on is also rather mainstream.



and then there's this: the scratching of TAPES! love it.



there's an obvious art in mixing of any type and when a DJ is moving multiple tracks/records within a cohesive beat, the art is heightened. but check out the labor that goes into changing out tapes vs. vinyl.

this concludes my commentary on DJ culture. :)

Nau, now a then.

got an e-mail this morning that sent me out of bed and onto my laptop: Nau is closing. the clothing store that innovated in every area - from organic cotton to category-changing activewear to donations - is closing. i found a confirmation on Treehugger - read this, it's a nice capsule.

or, check out Nau.com to get amazing deals as they closeout their inventory.

this development makes me very sad. i understand - especially as the owner of a small apparel business - that the current economy is putting the hurt on elective purchases. Nau's pricepoint was high, but not out of the realm of consideration based on the quality. moreover, i'm sad to see such an innovative, socially-aware company go off the stage. in just one year, Nau generated an incredible amount of press, commentary and worthy buzz because of the company's forward thinking. just think, if Nau could have survived financially, what changes it might spark in other companies.

i hope those founders, executives, store employees and even the factory workers responsible for some fine, fine clothing were inspired and in turn carry Nau's mission into new projects, brands and ways of life.

congrats, Nau, on the risk and i hope you, and your consumers, see the reward that came in the year of business.

here are a couple posts on Nau i previously published.