This item was a bag of Rap Snacks. A .875oz., 25-cent bag of ‘Bar-b-quin with my Honey’ Flavored Chips. Rap Snacks combines the image of hip-hop artists with the salty deliciousness (the BBQ have 200 mg of sodium per serving) of a variety of potato chip flavors. But the most amazing thing about Rap Snacks is the seemingly incongruous relationship between the artist endorsing the snack, the name of the chip and the messaging that appears on the bag. For example:

Murphy Lee
Pimp Education
Red Hot Riplets

Dirt McGirt
Think Responsibly
Sour Cream & Onion

Stat Quo
Pursue Your College Degree
Sour Cream & Cheddar

Baby
Stay Away From Guns
Bar-B-Quin’ with my Honey

Pretty Willie
Love Your Neighbor
Salsa Cheese

I would have loved to have been part of the discussion where they came up with these groupings. I wonder which groupings didn’t make the cut? Or could you imagine being on the conference call where they contacted Murphy Lee and asked “How do yo feel about Red Hot Riplets?”

Rap Snacks – you are my wildest marketing dream.

And believe me – that is a nice deep fryer.

I hereby submit Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino for entry into this pantheon.

Unless you’ve been living under a Pet Rock, you know that MTV’s The Jersey Shore has fist-pumped its way into water cooler discussions across this great land. Many of the show’s cast members have distinguished themselves in one form or another and could be great marketing case studies themselves. For instance, overly aggressive Ronnie’s innovative “Ron-Ron Juice” screams out to be a product extension line (potential tagline: “It’ll help you shatter strangers’ orbital bones.”). The stealthy philosophical Pauly D could get his own version of Taxi Driver Wisdom with profound lines like “I don’t even understand that religion or what it is, I just wanna get to the business.” And Jenny “JWoww” Farley clearly understands branding and marketing, as she has her own design company, Jenny Farley Designs Inc, which seems to offer conceptual solutions to anyone whose marketing issues are best served by including half-naked women on chrome-heavy motorcycles (i.e., everyone).

But truly, the show’s towering branding presence is The Situation, and that is because he understands the core principles of branding:

1. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition: Though I don’t have access to his creative brief, my guess is The Situation’s USP is something like this: “The Situation is an unrepentant yet oddly compelling creep, whose single-minded focus is to chase girls of all shapes, sizes, and colors (though mostly spray-tan orange).”

1A. What supports this USP? Abs, mostly.

2. Your brand name is your brand: I actually had to look up his real name for the title of this post. But The Situation? That’s been wedged in the American zeitgeist since early December. Not since Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski has a nickname made such brilliant use of a definite article. Note: this is likely the first time that the phrase brilliant has been used in conjunction with Mr. Sorrentino.

3. Stay on message: The Situation only has about 14 or 15 phrases that he says. Some may say this is due to a limited vocabulary; I see it as him having a tightly crafted message–a hallmark of any great brand. His phrases are then simply cobbled together with various parts of speech to form (mostly) complete sentences. Among the The Situation’s phrase bank:

• Speaking about The Situation, with phrases like “I mean this situation is gonna be indescribable, you can’t even describe the situation that you’re about to get into the situation.” Granted, what he said there is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in his rambling, incoherent response was he even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone is now dumber for having listened to it. That said, it’s awesome.
• “To be honest with you” prefaces 75% of his sentences. Seriously, listen for it. The irony is that it’s almost always followed by a lie.
• “<Name> loves The Situation” (the most spectacular example of this was the transcendent “Everybody loves me, babies, dogs, ya know, hot girls, cougars. I just have unbelievable mass appeal.”)
• An analogy connecting getting girls to warfare (i.e., “grenade”, “bulletproof vest”, “When we’re out on the battlefield, I’m like the first strike. It’s sorta like they send me out, first, like the Navy SEALs.”)
• Culinary terms (The Situation is a surprisingly accomplished chef, particularly in the sausage-n-peppers category)
• “Game”
• “Hook it up”
• “Creep” and/or “Creepin”
• Description of his physique (see also: John Rambo)

4. Stick to a process: At 160over90, we have an in-depth process that ensures our work remains at a certain standard. The Situation’s own personal process? G.T.L. (Gym. Tan. Laundry.)

5. Maintain a consistent look: When assembling an outfit, The Situation’s standards raise even more, as he has been known to change his shirt four times a night (apparently, Ed Hardy patterns vary greatly to the well-trained eye).

6. Single-minded focus: Great brands don’t try to be all things to all people. They know what they do well and stick to it. Mike knows his brand: “The only thing we care about is gettin’ girls & going to the gym.” Indeed, Mike. Indeed.

7. Get your message out there: We all have Twitter and Facebook as our tools of social networking; Mike has the duck phone. Mediums change, but persistence is timeless. Again, in his own words: “There is definitely a numbers game when it comes to girls. Let’s just say, ya know, ten girls have slipped you their number within that particular week. There is a possibility that, like, five or six may not answer. Somebody may pick up but they’re busy, but probably on three or four they’re probably coming over and I’m going to have to make a decision on which group of girls I want to come over for me and my boy Pauly.” Don’t give up on your audience easily.

8. Don’t be a douchebag to your audience: Technically, Mike fails this longstanding branding rule, but seven out of eight ain’t bad.

It’s the last week of December, and if you’re reading this, you’re probably at work. Looking for something to get you thru? If that’s a hell yeah, I’d like to introduce you to Frank & Erik. They’re Internet Famous, and you can too!

Meet Frank and Erik: two twenty-something man-children working and living in New York City. What starts as a pot of coffee and a case of over-priced beer turns into 30-80 minutes of ex-girlfriend stories, complaints of NYC tourism, observations in social awkwardness, and advice on the correct timing of how to hide in your girlfriend’s bathroom when you’re drunk/tired and her and her friends want to keep going out. This is their podcast. It’s authentic. It’s comedic. It’s sensitive. It’s the squat-thrust of podcast exercising.

Frank & Erik: Internet Famous

Their stories are brutally honest and as in-your-face as that dude’s crotch on your train ride to work. Erik used to live in Chinese prison and is pretty proportionate for a tall dude. Frank thinks pissing in public was much easier in his earlier years. They have special guests, they play stories from their listeners, and occasionally stream the show live live. They also both have huge biceps.

You can download or stream a show from their web site, or you can find them on iTunes. Try ‘em out… Your quality of life will probably improve.

 
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Frank & Erik: Internet Famous
On air since: Dec 20008
duration: 30-80 min
show frequency: almost bi-weekly
iTunes Link

Some episode favorites:
Episode 5 — Embarassing Moments
Episode 8 — More embarassing moments, this one with a listeners particularly wonderful rendition of Holy Night [jump to 36:45]
Episode 11 — Lili’s 1st guest appearance, and a great story of catching someone cheating
Episode 40 — Good times

Anna Hartley

Gina Kent

Jenn Miller

See the rest here:
Holiday Nostalgia Part 2
Holiday Nostalgia Part 1

Illustration from Bruno Munari’s Le Macchine di Munari, which also includes diagrams and helpful descriptions of a lizard-driven engine for tired tortoises, a mechanism for sniffing artificial flowers, a humiliator for mosquitoes, a machine for playing the pipe even when you are not home, a machine for seeing the dawn before anyone else, and a tail wagger for dogs.

Bruno Munari’s work was described by one critic as as “a playful revolution” – perfectly put. It is a rabbit hole to a realm where the tweaking of adult conventions and the stimulation of children’s imaginations meet, mingle, draw, type, play, and get wonderfully, absurdly, heartwarmingly weird. (A collection of his work can be viewed here, click on the “+” to reveal images.) Munari himself summed up his approach perfectly: lucidity, leanness, exactitude and humor. Compass points worth following, surely. (via shepelavy.com)

Perhaps it was NBC that told the story best during their live interview with us this week:

Well our 15 minutes days (or so) of fame are nearing an end, as tomorrow (Friday, 10/30/09) is the last day of the who-wore-it-best competition. However, we will be posting photos on the site next week from the punishment that’s in store for the loser, so be sure to check back.

www.TieOrDie.com

Additional context and some fun interviews after the break.

The name “Tie or Die” proved to be the most worthy of the few options we considered when launching this site that was originally intended to be for our coworkers amusement. I suppose it’s an intriguing title, albeit a little bit creepy. We assure you there is nothing creepy about the site,  unless you are completely and utterly creeped out by young men wearing ties. I wish that everyone was creeped out by young men wearing ties, because then I would at least have a Halloween costume picked out.

But despite the quick-launch of this unplanned escapade, our quirky rivalry has garnered its fair share of attention. Check out the sites below that were kind and interested enough to feature our contest. The interviews were a real gas.

Man Over Board: “A collaboration of original content from a select few authors from around the world, delving in the male species.”

http://man-over-board.com/2009/10/17/mob-interview-the-cofounders-of-tieordie-com/

Shmitten Kitten: “We talk about dudes and dating in Philadelphia although our observations seem to be relevant to people in all time zones.”

http://www.shmittenkitten.com/2009/10/flippin-our-shades-boys-from.html

Philadelphia Weekly Style Blog:

http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/style/2009/10/28/tie-or-die-who-wore-it-best/

She Knows Best: “Fashion and Style Tips for Men from a Female”

http://www.splendicity.com/sheknowsbest/vote-in-the-tie-or-die-contest/

Craig Sager sporting his new pocket kerchief for Game 5

We caught up with Craig Sager, our favorite fashion-forward sports reporter, on Chestnut Street early this afternoon. He’d just returned from a shopping trip to Boyd’s for a few accessories and was so excited to show us his new purchase that he put his Di Bruno Brothers soup down on the street and started unwrapping the kerchief before we could say “polyester”.

This may come as a surprise, but Craig is his own stylist. With over 300 suits, Craig tries never to repeat an ensemble. He did admit that a few pieces from his NBA wardrobe may migrate to the MLB post season – but not very often. For tonight’s NLCS Game 5 between the Phillies and the Dodgers, Craig will be wearing a teal suit with his brand new pocket square.

The leaves are quickly falling, and your shorts are going into hibernation, Yup, it’s that time of year again to layer up. For some men, sporting a cool stache is a hip(ster) way to keep your face nice and warm. For those, like I, who cannot grow a mustache or beard of any sort due to my Asian heritage, I like to sport the Screen Stache. It’s fun and open to men and women! These gentlemen will protect your computer, Mac or PC, and will keep your office/home environment nice and toasty, ready for the chilly weather.

Download this screensaver after the jump…

Just follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Purchase a mustache/beard of your liking from any gift/gag store.

2. Download the zipped file with above images.

Download it here.

3. Set your screen saver to photo slideshow on this particular folder. And enjoy!

Below are a few examples:

The Englishman

The Fu Manchu

The Gable

And the Macho Man