{"id":2367,"date":"2019-03-06T00:10:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ohjames.net\/ohjames\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2019-03-06T00:10:58","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:10:58","slug":"chasing-cool-noah-kerner-gene-pressman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ohjames.net\/ohjames\/2019\/03\/chasing-cool-noah-kerner-gene-pressman.html","title":{"rendered":"Chasing Cool; Noah Kerner, Gene Pressman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Suddenly, people in nightlife think the purpose of nightlife is to make a lot of money. The purpose of nightlife is to enjoy the lifestyle itself. When you approach it like a business, it ceases to be fun because you end up sitting with a guy who has to pay just to get in as opposed to the guy who is interesting. Truthfully, you have to create something for yourself, something that you love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cool is not the outcome of a chase but rather the province of a tasteful visionary who maintains a personal, authentic point of view.<\/p>

They saw opportunities where others didn\u2019t. They inspired change when others were defending their positions. They were driven by passion and constantly alive to inspiration from everywhere. And they had the balls to keep reinventing themselves. They saw opportunities where others didn\u2019t.<\/p>

In the \u201950s you wanted to be the General Motors of something. In the early \u201960s you wanted to be the Xerox of something, then it became the IBM of something, then the Nike of something, and the list goes on and on.<\/p>

U2 shares its own equity by partnering with iPod; so does Eminem. Cars advertise iPod connectivity. Levi\u2019s is creating iPod-compatible jeans. The word podcast has long since entered the dictionary. <\/p>

Most of the companies that came in first ended up going out of business first. P&G are masters at the process of having a process, of being second. They don\u2019t often go out on a limb. They follow other company\u2019s footsteps and have obviously been pretty successful at it. Don\u2019t complain when they copy, complain when they don\u2019t. As with everything, it\u2019s all about the execution of the vision.<\/p>

The moment a company focuses too heavily on what\u2019s going on around it is when its products become Me-Too.<\/p>

Outsourced vision doesn\u2019t work unless you first take a closer look at what goes on inside your walls.
Outside help doesn\u2019t solve internal deficiencies. And an outside vision will never be properly shepherded unless that vision also exists internally. <\/p>

An overreliance on committees makes it hard to really get anything right. They lead to a shuffling of responsibilities. A group makes it hard for things to coalesce. Everyone is enamored with ideas\u2014but nobody wants to totally take the responsibility for working them out in a thorough way. When there are too many opinions, coming to a gemlike conclusion is nearly impossible. Assign too many chefs to cook up a vision, and the product will taste like something reheated. Don\u2019t let committees, status quo, focus groups, or fear compromise an authentic internal vision. <\/p>

Research is critical to that process. But you have to start from a place of really knowing who you are and what you stand for. MTV knows what it is and what it isn\u2019t.<\/p>

We had to educate our customer and, simultaneously, imbue a sense of self-discovery. We had to make customers feel like we had the best-kept secret.<\/p>

how do we break down the barriers between content and advertising to create that beautiful seamless branded entertainment experience?<\/p>

Quick marketing fixes don\u2019t solve deep product issues.<\/p>

The college web phenomenon Facebook garnered millions of members with a marketing budget of $300. And $200 of that was spent on creating T-shirts for an event. They created a great online property and shortly thereafter every college student across America became an ambassador. Buzz was their only tactic. It was real and it worked.<\/p>

Good advertising makes a bad product fail faster.<\/p>

Gmail, Google\u2019s e-mail system, uses a similar premise based around invite-only peer recommendations.<\/p>

Remember, the etymology of the word brand comes from the Old English for \u201cburn.\u201d It\u2019s defined in Merriam-Webster\u2019s Collegiate Dictionary as \u201ca mark made by burning with a hot iron to attest manufacture or quality or to designate ownership.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSuddenly, people in nightlife think the purpose of nightlife is to make a lot of money. The purpose of nightlife is to enjoy the lifestyle itself. When you approach it like a business, it ceases to be fun because you end up sitting with a guy who has to pay just to get in as opposed to the guy who is interesting. Truthfully, you have to create something for yourself, something that you love.<\/p>

Aesthetic is about a very personal point of view, an internal credo; not compromise or consensus. And that internal point of view needs to flow right into the company\u2019s central nervous system. <\/p>

A quality aesthetic lasts, and long-term loyalty derived from an improved aesthetic experience is worth the short-term losses. It just requires conviction (with a good business model to back it up).<\/p>

Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. A few of Ian Schrager\u2019s hotels have been through bankruptcy. Richard Branson has been unsuccessful with various Virgin sub-brands. It\u2019s hard to have major hits without some fairly big hiccups. Yet, when you look at the brands today\u2014Virgin, Apple, Schrager, Barneys, and so on\u2014they\u2019re all very much on top.<\/p>

The key for a brand at the top is to create new marketing models that reinvent the wheel, year after year after year, and to avoid, at all costs, what we call Don\u2019t Fuck Up Mode (DFUM)\u2014the mode that far too many successful brands seem to shift into just when they should be moving ahead.<\/p>

Great legends, are usually people who die young because they didn\u2019t live long enough to spoil their image.<\/p>

MAC Cosmetics became a success in the hip-hop community, for instance, because it was behind the scenes. It was the backstage resource for all the recording artists. Tommy didn\u2019t set out to create a line of clothing for hip-hop culture\u2014he created a line that the members of this culture aspired to. They aspired to it because it suggested a ritzy New Englander lifestyle. Confronted with the fact that his brand was gaining serious traction in that market, Tommy shifted his strategy to specifically appeal to this segment \u2014and that was where the problems arose.<\/p>

Maxim, whether it be with a readership of 2 million or a readership of 14 million, as it has now, remains true to its core values\u2014an entertainment brand that makes a guy\u2019s life better.<\/p>

Clint Eastwood and Prince reinvented their personalities: one became a stylish and sensitive filmmaker, the other became a record-business
<\/p>

You have to plan for your next career, every smart person does. But it has to be in line with my passions. I have to really care about it. It has to make sense for who I am. I think the definition of greatness is about consistency even as you\u2019re changing. It\u2019s not about showing people what you can do. It\u2019s about doing what you do, becoming great at it, and doing that time and time again.<\/p>

If your business isn\u2019t based on a personal understanding of who you\u2019re talking to, there\u2019s going to be a certain honesty missing. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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People<\/a>
Grey Goose 
Us Weekly
SubservientChicken.com
pay-for-play tactic: In other words, if you don\u2019t pay, you\u2019re marginalized\u2014and
Crooked line: early arrivals would be kept waiting outside the door for what seemed like hours. The idea was that a crowd outside would create the allure of a packed venue.
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