My 8 year old son Liam is an original. For Halloween this year he wanted to be a sheep. Couldn’t be talked out of it. We hoped he’d change his mind and want to be Darth Vader, but no. A sheep or nothing. So my wife painstakingly constructed the costume using a lot of cotton balls and glue.
Recently he entered a poetry competition. He decided he wanted to write a haiku on the the theme “Beauty is…” where the entrants had to creatively define their idea of beauty in some way. Could be art, photo, dance whatever.
Liam decided that beauty was birds. Specifically sparrows. I was relieved to see his final piece wasn’t too sparrow-centric.
When he showed us his final work it was apparent that he hadn’t exactly stuck to the rigid haiku structure. He loved it so much he kept that haiku structure going some more!
Because Liam doesn’t know that the haiku structure is rigid. To him it’s more of a rough guide. Because he hasn’t been told otherwise.
And guess what, Liam’s new improved haiku works too.
Over the summer i was shooting in boiling New York and found myself in urgent need of a clean T-shirt, so i wandered into a nearby Levis store. The store itself was a shrine to what i subsequently found out is their new ad campaign by the frequently great Wieden and Kennedy. I mean it was EVERYWHERE. Beautifully shot posters and banners. They were even selling t-shirts (lots of them) festooned with slogans from the new campaign. i have since found out that they even commissioned a new typeface that was hand-carved from wood. I love that. Can i have the uppercase “V” and the “W”? I can? great. thanks guys!
Whoever bought this campaign clearly loves it and is going all in on it. And good for them. I think it’s working. This enigmatic TV spot is currently all over the airwaves here. That’s an actual recording of poet Walt Whitman’s voice on an early wax cylinder recording from the 19th century. talk about texture.
I just read today that Levis’ earnings last year were down precipitously. Let’s hope that this campaign helps reverse that trend. Because regardless of what you might think of the ads (and i personally like them) it’s nice to see a marketer really lean into an idea and run with it. Good luck to all concerned. Go Levis!
Here at The Escape Pod we are very superficial. Because appearance really can be everything. Everyone judges books by their covers. How the hell else are they supposed to judge them? A great cover means your book stands a better chance of being picked up and perused in a crowded [...]
its’ a Christian rap video trying to encourage a new behaviour among the youngsters. You see, apparently Jesus doesn’t like “front huggin’”, so they are trying to popularize a less sexual and more Christian “side hug”. File under: Only in America. Wow. Just wow.
The former account director on Budweiser when i worked on the brand at DDB, Marty Kohr, put this on youtube recently. It’s a highlight reel that demonstrates the impact our work had on the culture. This was the bit that fascinated me most. Winning awards is nice but it’s really just the [...]
