John Winsor

Surf's Up

Ian has a nice little riff in answer to Matt Higgins ponder, “it’s unclear why surfing has found a broader respectability,” in Sunday's New York Times.

Is this Disneyfication of the waves a good thing? After all, more people are enjoying what the early tribe of surfers enjoyed. And maybe, just maybe, surfing going upscale will translate into better stewardship of our precious oceans.

Celebrating Real Women, Take Two

After their noteworthy Real Women campaign last year, Dove follows up with a wonderful new ad.

(via Francois)

Happy Valentine's Day

In celebration, David has a wonderful post on the power of Red.

In Praise of Criticism

Snickers did the right thing by pulling their Super Bowl ad. But, I’m sure they are not complaining about the 16x increase of traffic to their web site. Talk about starting a conversation!

What is Community, #9

Here's Rob DeFlorio's take:

“Community is where shared beliefs inspire participation”

Yeah, Nike!

I love my sneakers and always struggle to figure out a way to where them with a suit when I'm standing in front of a few hundred people giving a speech without looking lame. Nike's solved the problem with their new anaconda or crocodile skin Air Force 1. The shoes include 18-karat-gold shoelace tips. Even at $2000, these lux-sneakers will be gone in a matter of minutes.

Customer is Always Right

The New York Times gets it right with the On the Street column entitled, Customer is Always Right.

Far left, a plaid Marc Jacobs coat was worn last week just as he showed it on the runway in 2006. Left, a Junya Watanabe jacket; the wearer added plaid accessories. Some women with a creative urge gave dull classics more imaginative silhouettes. A Ralph Lauren jacket, right, is worn upside down, creating a striking cocoon shape. Far right, the wearer turned a Burberry coat inside out and wore it backward with the label as a medallion. Perhaps that’s what more people should do with the cookie-cutter clothes seen on Seventh Avenue last week.

   

What is Community?, #8

From Tinker Hatfield at Nike:

Caring enough about your neighbors, friends and cohorts to help when help is needed and to share experiences "just any old time". 

Quote of the Day

"We've re-mystified the brand."

-Russ Klein, CMO, Burger King,

(via USA Today)

Maybe not just right...

No sooner than I wrote my last post about the great experience I had at the Kimpton Monoco, San Francisco than our relationship went horribly wrong. When I left the Monoco on Friday the Front Desk Manager he told me that he would book another room for me this week and call my cell with a confirmation number. Well, I hadn't heard from him so I called the hotel last night only to find out that they were sold out! Sold out! But he told me he'd take care of it.

It goes to show that a brand can do everything right in it's marketing and product but get tripped up on a simple thing like keeping a promise. Unfortunately, Kimpton is now off of my "Just Right" list.