Don’t Mess With This!

You have to love Thomas Mailaender’s photographs of people holding oversized objects.

Obama Brand Irony

Over the course of the last several months much has been made of the effectiveness of the Obama brand. Michael Bierut stated in a Newsweek Post that, “He’s the first candidate who’s had a coherent, top-to-bottom, 360-degree system at work.” Sam Berlow and Cyrus Highsmith from The Font Bureau spoke in The Boston Globe to the strength of his type choices in communicating a fresh, polished look that has broken from the standards of the past. And Jonathan Hoefler has praised the campaign for being “visually on message at every turn.” 

When brands and messaging are widely embraced the masses often respond with their own take. Think of all the ‘Got Milk’ spin-offs you’ve seen. Or the countless iterations of Mastercard’s ‘priceless’. The irony here is great when you consider that the effect of being cohesive can actually spur people to manipulate [the brand's] standards in an effort to make it their own. Maybe this a sign of a truly great brand?

This post, and the ones that will follow over the ensuing months will highlight Obama work that has been created outside of brand constraints. This first example was seen in Philadelphia on South Street between Broad and 13th.

Mayoral Urban Planning

Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine was the Architecture Issue and it featured some great stories on some really progressive architecture firms. Places like, LOT-EK, who designed those wonderful shipping container mobile stores for Uniqlo that we’re all so fond of. As well as, the firm, Front Inc., who are responsible for some of the most amazing facades and surfaces adorning contemporary architecture. They did the facade for Herzog & de Meuron’s expansion to the Walker Art Center, which us Minneapolis people love so much.

What article really intrigued me though was one of their weekly pieces, Questions For…, where they interviewed the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa. Some of you may have seen him on the daily show before (sorry couldn’t find a YouTube video). It really shows the importance of a mayor in shaping our planet’s major metropolises. Having worked with Thomas M. Menino of Boston, we’ve realized how a visionary Mayor can really influence the architecture and urban planning of a city. Just look at the achievements of other mayors as well. Like Mayor Daley of Chicago and Chicago’s Millennium Park. Mayor Bloomberg and his PLANYC, a goal for a greener New York.

While attending the AIGA Next Design Conference in Denver, I was lucky enough to hear Mayor Hickenlooper speak about his urban planning ambitions for Denver, which includes two amazing new art museums, one for the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art designed by David Adjaye, who also designed the Idea Stores in London. As well as the Denver Art Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind.

I think one of the most progressive urban planning achievements a Mayor has achieved lately has to go to Mayor Gilberto Kassab for banning all public advertising from São Paulo. Something like that could obviously never happen in the United States, and probably not in most European cities either.

Just think the next time your walking around your favorite metropolis and the role that a mayor and the people in his office played in shaping the urban environment around you.

Bro Love for the Shop Around the Block

Gotta hand it to the agency around the corner from us, Gyro, for pulling off this totally fake campaign for a totally fake airline—and to the Philly papers for having the brass ones to greenlight it. Nice identity for the plane too, with a nod to Nelly. If only this was for real. The 10 minutes a week I spend on my Wii Fit would virtually pay for itself. 

Agency Lessons from the Cold War

While quoting Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” in business is so 80’s (which means like neon and Ray Ban Wayfarers it might also be so 08′ish), I recently finished reading a series of books on Cold-War era military history and middle eastern foreign policy that actually have fairly practical application to our business and agency life.

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