Gotta love Nike’s aggressive way of marketing running.

It’s all about supporting the brand message of ‘Just Do it’.

The urban feel to these posters is so universal though…harder than it looks to achieve this.

And this is for Uraguay!

R

No big news… we’ve established with a crystal clearness that we’re huge fans of Entourage, just try to use our search function. So when Entourage writes to us on Facebook and tells us about this new show, and how we shouldn’t only see it as an eastcoast version of our favorite show… We’ll then we’re intrigued!

Why would they say that you ask, well one of the priciple writers turned producer, turned executive producer is a guy called Rob Weiss, and “How To Make It In America” is his new show on HBO.

Mr. Weiss describes it like this:

“How to Make It,” which has its debut next Sunday, tells the story of Ben (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam (Victor Rasuk), entrepreneurs hustling at the fringes of the fashion world. Though the new project touches on some of the themes of “Entourage” — a tale of friends who successfully break into the entertainment industry — Mr. Weiss sees it as different, with less of a focus on wish fulfillment.

“This asks, ‘What does it really take to make it?’ and ‘Is the American Dream still alive?’ ” Mr. Weiss said, adding that while the show is a comedy, the characters strain against their ideals as they strive for success.

“We want to find the comedy moments without getting broad. The biggest challenge for the first year, he said, “is figuring out the voices for these characters.”

This is what we’re in for…

Now i don’t know about you, but that trailer just completely turns me off! It’s one big cliché and if i’m to use any time watching anything that promises to take up time on a weekly basic, it better show me something new.

Adding Kid Cudi and sending out a mixtape isn’t enough. It’s good for marketing, but if the end product doesn’t hold up, then who cares??

Now before i get ahead of myself, i will watch an episode maybe even two, but it better be worth it…

Streetbeat

We love NYC at BANDIT, maybe because we borrow some its swagger, hustle and mouthiness…

I grew up reading Nelson George’s articles, following his work from the beginning by default and later as a fan, who knew his work would always be real and worth checking out…

I can’t wait to see this film about a special neighbourhood in NYC that has had a huge impact artistically on the world and all our lives.

The film is a feature-length documentary about the arts movement that exploded in Fort Greene from the mid 1980s through the 90s.

It features Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Rosie Perez, Vernon Reid, Carl Hancock Rux, Saul Williams, Lorna Simpson, Alva Rogers, Kevin Powell, Toure, Bill Stephany to name a few.

R

Props to K for the heads up

There once was a man called Gordon Gekko who said…

“The richest one percent of this country owns half our country’s wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It’s bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you’re not naive enough to think we’re living in a democracy, are you buddy? It’s the free market. And you’re a part of it. You’ve got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I’ve still got a lot to teach you.”

Well… 23 years later Mr. Gekko is back, and still right about what he said back then!

Oliver Stone is back and Michael Douglas is back. That’s all i need to know! Shia LeBeouf and Josh Brolin will work nicely as well i guess…

But this is Mr. Douglas world..

Streetbeat

If you’ve been awake sometime during the last week or so, then you’ve heard people using the word tablet, or at least maybe read it. When i first heard about it, i had no idea what a tablet was…

We all got the point when Mr. Jobs of Apple fame showed us exactly what all the hype was about, well let’s just say that most Apple fans globally had a hard time breathing.

Apple the company that once used to be only for the rich, beautiful, geeky and famous. Now it’s for everybody, and it seems that when you buy an Apple product you all buy the Apple bible and a get-out-of-jail free card.

Much has been said about the tablet now know as the iPad, but let’s start with some facts:

It…

- is 1,3 cm thick and weighs either 680 or 730 grams (depending on what model it is). It has a color 24.6-cm LED-display screen.

- has either 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of flash memory.

- has a 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi version will be available in late March worldwide for 499 dollars. The 32GB Wi-Fi model will cost 599 dollars while the 64GB Wi-Fi model will cost 699 dollars.

- promises a 3G becoming available in late April in the United States and selected countries. The 16GB model will cost 629 dollars, the 32GB will cost 729 dollars and the 64GB model will cost 829 dollars.

- also promises battery life of up to 10 hours from a single charge.

- runs almost all of the over 140,000 applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone available in Apple’s App Store.

- has an online “iBookstore” to complement the iTunes music store. iPad syncs with iTunes so applications and content downloaded from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to a user’s iTunes library.

- has a virtual touchscreen keyboard and the ability to hook up an external physical keyboard.

- comes with iWork, a productivity suite of applications for creating presentations or working with spreadsheets and charts.

- is powered by A4, a next-generation chip which Apple said provides exceptional processor and graphics performance.

- has a Software Development Kit for iPad developers to create applications.

- also comes with other things like, Bluetooth 2.1, a speaker, and a microphone.

And it looks a little something like this…

Ok so while we’re being factual, let’s then also tell you the most important things it lacks:

- No built-in camera (webcam).

- No USB ports.

- No memory card read.

- Keyboard dock sold separately.

- No multi-tasking.

- No Adobe Flash support.

- Can only run Apple-sanctioned apps.

- Can only access iTunes videos and music.

- Lacks HDMI port.

- Screen is 4:3 aspect ratio, not 16:9 widescreen.

- No full GPS support.

- And you can’t search, copy and paste, record videos or send MMS messages.

OK….

So you can’t multitask, you can’t access flashbased websites, you need adapter for everything that Apple doesn’t mean is necessary aka USB and so forth. If the video is not found on iTunes or converted to the Apple video format you can’t play them… and the cheap version is only 16GB??

“It’s an iPhone for people who can’t be arsed holding an iPhone up to their face. A slightly-further-away iPhone that keeps your lap warm. A weird combination of portable and cumbersome: too small to replace your desktop, too big to fit in your pocket, unless you’re a clown.”

Charlie Brooker – The Guardian

It’s supposed to be the most hi tech thing right now, but i can’t shake this image…

The tech heads have all laughed at the moaning about flash not being present, and even though they’re technically right…

“The main arguments against Flash running on the iPad are that it’s a resource hog and a security risk. Both true! Hopefully the web is moving away from relying on Flash for videos and ugly menus, with HTML5 acting as a more-than-adequate replacement. But we’re not there yet. While I can appreciate the fact that Apple is trying to keep the iPad more stable by not including Flash, the fact that it kills off most online gaming and video streaming in the process makes the tradeoff questionable”.

Which brings me to my next point, say you have converted the 10-15 movies you want to watch to the appropriate file format, and you have between 10-20 books on the iPad. Maybe there’s a few games on there, and a years worth of photos. That alone will eat up the 16GB the standard model, the one with the low price Apple are so happily parading.

That then means the you have to either transfer (wireless) stuff off and on to the iPad on a regular basis, or spend extra cash on an adapter so you can use one of those old fashion “landlines”.

But that’s not even the worst thing… right now i’m doing about 6 other things whilest writing this, on the iPad that’s impossible. Yeah that’s right, you can only do one thing at once. Do i have to spell out the kind of trouble that will get you in.
Imagine you’re reading an article, and you want to send a bit of it to your friend in an email, and you have no copy/paste.

Funny because Apple seem to think that it’s absolutely hassle free…

The overwhelming question is…why?

Why not have ALL the features that we could wish for and then there would be no outcry within minutes of the announcement!
We’re getting flashbacks of the same strategy with the iPhone (those first gen iPhone users are nodding their heads right now!).

Apple has handed the competition the blueprint for a competitive advantage. Create a tablet that can do more than 2 things at once and there will be a significant market of disillusioned iPad owners to appeal to in a few months time. Can you keep stiffing would be users in a financial climate like this?

“The iPad falls between two stools – not quite a laptop, not quite a smartphone.”
God bless Charlie Brooker for the best comments on the iPad and Apple in the aftermath of the announcement.

Which begs the question – if I have an iPhone and Macbook…why do I buy an iPad?

If the reasoning is that it’s to mainly be for ebooks and reading papers in some new form, well then Apple may want to look over their shoulder really hard, because Amazon and their Kindle are not taking this lightly.

“In a sign that Amazon wants to upgrade its Kindle e-reader to compete head-on with the Apple iPad, Amazon has acquired Touchco, a start-up based in New York that specializes in touch-screen technology, a person briefed on the deal said Wednesday. Touchco uses a technology called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, which it puts into displays that can be completely transparent and could cost as little as $10 a square foot. The capacitive touch screens used in the iPad and iPhone are considerably more expensive. Unlike those screens, the Touchco screens can also detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.

Touchco’s technology uses resistors that are sensitive to different levels of pressure. It has said its screens can distinguish between the touch of a finger and the pressure of a pen or similar pointing device.
The acquisition “would suggest Amazon is looking to expand its platform perhaps beyond e-readers to encompass more functionality and more content,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital.”

Is this going to turn into the age old question being asked in the near future??

iPad what have you done for me lately??

We will leave you with this…

BANDIT

I haven’t bought a CD since forever..but I might have to buy this…

..upload it into my iTunes…

..then never play the CD again – just look at the packaging every so often

Note: Fast forward to 1min 13secs

This is what you have to do if you want us to buy CDs!

R

Politely jacked from the good people at Giant Peach

Props to K for the heads up!

Miranda Kerr needs to thank David Kiely a whole bunch.

David was at work  admiring Ms Kerr on his computer screen

Nothing strange about that, I hear you say?

The down side is that his colleague was being interviewed for an Australian national tv station and David’s screen was there in the background for all to see.

It may have been a evil set up, or just a silly move by the guy concerned – but there is no doubt that it won’t hurt Miranda’s career as the story gains popularity.

I wonder if the good people at Victoria’s Secret or those who represent Ms Kerr will move quickly to gain something from this – they should, it’s funny!

R

People buy people – that popular phrase that rings true even now.

Celebrities and athletes have been used for endorsements for so long that I think the agencies and brands creating commercials don’t realise how little effect the same old format has on us ‘Joe Public’.

Unless it is executed well – they seem fake, phony and contrived.

What makes it worse is that we have examples at our fingertips of the same people in much more real and charming settings – which would help sell a tonne of products!

Examples?

____

McDonalds LeBron & Dwight

or

The real LeBron (here) and Dwight (here)

______

There’s commercial Beckham (here) and commercial Garnett (here)

The real Beckham and the real Garnett

______

Even actresses…like Jessica Alba..

In commercial mode here;

But isn’t she infinitely more believable here?

______

it only works with;

• A cool as f*** creative concept
• A funny as f*** concept
• A concept that lets them be as natural as possible

Like this final example;

This feels fake, but looks good..

…and feels so real

R

So..i’m reading Marketing Week…online, because unless I’m sat in someone’s lobby flicking through a copy or at a partner agency sitting in their lobby shooting the sh!t, I’m not going to care about the hard copy version!

Anyway – I read the following;

“Nokia is to launch a multimillion pound integrated campaign to support the launch of its touchscreen X6 16GB smartphone.”

Uh-huh

“Nokia claims it is one of the company’s biggest spends to date.”

Ok

“TV ads will kick off with a 30-second spot on ITV1 in February during Champions League Football”

That must be expensive..won’t people be heading for the toilet or to make some tea during the breaks in football?

“Fiona Bosman, head of brand at Nokia UK, says: “The X6 embodies youthful entertainment…”

Wait…wait…wait…

Let’s review everything so far…in consumer terms..

1. Nokia is spending a boat load of cash in the UK to create an iPhone killer..
2. They seem proud to tell us that they’re spending that much cash..
3. They are doing some entertainment style marketing strategy where they will search for a reporter..

Please explain to me which part of that even begins to scream youthful or entertaining?

It seems like once again we have a brand using a old as the hills marketing strategy to crack a very very tough market.

Good Luck!

Now if they had called us, we would have said;

1. What is the true embodiment of enterainment and youthfulness in 2010?
2. Stop wasting that money, and understand how people truly live
3. Get some sh!t hot reviews in magazines and online
4. Create a buzz amongst consumers who hate the iPhone this is their answer

Oh  – the folks over at Apple didn’t seem to need any of that to create a huge buzz about their latest product..and they did the lamest video ever to promote it!

R

Here’s hoping that you don’t know… but if you do, then yes you’re painfully right. I’m maaaad late seeing that Miike Snow’s album dropped in October last year. But that’s what happens sometimes when so much crap music comes out; you draw your sword like D’Artagnan and try to defend yourself against the wackness that tries to set up camp in your ears. So i’m just glad that i found them now!

If you’re one of the ones that scare easily when the word pop is thrown around and followed by Swedish, well then you’re reading the wrong post, and i bid you adieu. If you on the other hand, like something that has still maintained just enough edge so that is becomes, shall we call it modern pop music, well then i welcome you.

Now here is where it becomes tricky, please don’t get scared! Two thirds of the group has previously produced for the likes of Britney Spears, Madonna, Sugababes and Kylie Minogue as Avant & Bloodshy. In Miike Snow they’re completed by an American front man and songwriter, and he gives them the indie’ish edge that makes them something else.
This was the first track i discovered…

But this is the track, that sealed the deal!

I love pop music!

Streetbeat