December 24, 2005
“tell the truth and the brand builds itself”
Thomas and I were driving into town the other day, talking about our business.
THOMAS: “We’re so lucky we don’t have to create the brand out of thin air. We just tell the truth and the brand builds itself.”
Marketers, take note.
[Bonus Link:] From the New York Times: New York is in danger of losing its “creative class”. Though I loved living there, I never found New York that “creative” a place to be. Too much mojo went on keeping up with the pace [see cartoon above] and paying rent. Eventually it gets repetitive. Eventually you realise that you’re watching the same movie as everyone else.
Of course, I was working in an ad agency back then. So I suppose deserved to suffer.
The other aspect that is repetitive in New York is acting like a parent to everyone under 40. Where are the adults?
I am so using that quote.…
At the risk of sounding like an infintile small-towner from the Pacific Northwest, I do feel compelled to say:
“I thought everyone already knew that Bellingham was the center of the internet.”
If You Can Make It There You Can Make It Anywhere
NYT: New York City’s creative sector — which includes architects, potters, filmmakers and clothing designers — has long helped fuel the city’s economy because of its size and its role in drawing the wealthy to town. But relentless inflation in…
Well you may have a point, Fenmere… certainly the internet makes certain big city advantages redundant… English Cut being a prime example of this.
We have a Savile Row (London) address, but we spend hardly anything maintaining it.
Before the internet we’d have had to move down there… pay $200K per annum rent on the shop, not to mention the other expense horrors that is living in London. Add the that the cost of keeping a presence in the other seven cities we visit, including New York.
One of the reasons New York never really became a major center of the internet is cultually everything there psychologically revolves around and is beholden to real estate.
New York is no more the center of the internet than Bellingham is… or Cumbria for that matter.
Is it worth it to live in New York?
Is it worth it to live in New York City?
Upon landing at JFK on a flight from SFO the young woman next to me was speaking of her plans once she got into the city, I smiled and informed her that she was in the city now.
Outsiders identify Manhattan as New York City, but we have The Bronx, Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn. The New York Metropolitan area has over 50 million people living within twenty five miles of the city. Four million people a day travel into the city to work and then travel back to New Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island.
The energy and creativity that build this great city hasn’t diminished, emigrants continue to arrive daily, every kind of music and entertainment can be found seven day a week three hundred and sixty five days a year. More and more Business transactions happen here as we buy, sell, trade, write, record and reinvent our city every day.
Hey Paul, if it works for you, Rock On
There are 50 million people Rock’en and bopping, unfortunately you never got hip to the rhythm.
Da riddim. Yeah, OK. I’ve been here almost 20 years and da riddim seems to me more summed up by Hugh’s cartoons about living here than platitudes about how great it is. It’s greta if you have an unlimited cash flow. Otherwise it’s just a bitch.
Just one man’s opinion. I’d have been long gone ages ago but the hot women keep me here.
Creativity is not postal-code dependent.
(Whew!)
I understand Paul’s point of view, and think it’s perfectly valid.
I also understand why I drew the following cartoon when I lived there:
http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/aaa12345695.jpg
Illogical Overinvestment and Attachment to a Topic
Post about efficiently overinvesting into a topic up to the point of becoming exceptionally inefficient.