24 January 09
Last summer when shopping for some flip flops I found myself wandering into a Hollister store at the mall. I have to say that it was one of the more immersive brand experiences that I’ve had in a while.
With shuttered windows, teal flooring, and cozy lounge chairs, the store both inside and out resembles a Southern California beach shack. The inside was dimly lit, music was cranked and the Hollister signature scent filled the air.
Their e-Commerce website does a great job carrying over the brand image online.
If you get the chance I recommend visiting the store. You’ll likely be feeling your age, but it will be hard to not be impressed.
Wikipedia has some background info on the Hollister story.
23 January 09
PublicSchool593 is the latest boutique to open up in Jersey City. They carry very limited edition clothes, sneakers, watches, and toys from brands like SullyWong (pictured above), Nooka, and Royalefam. I stopped by their grand opening tonight and caught a live art performance of Calc2.
19 January 09
Big Spaceship is curating a site where agencies (or anyone) can submit Flash pre-loaders. It’s quite fun and hypnotizing to watch as each pre-loader loads the next. See if you can guess the brand or the client without looking in the bottom left. Pretty cool. http://www.prettyloaded.com/
18 January 09
Remember Blockbuster? With all the talk in the media about how Netflix has integrated their streaming service with yet another device, Apple and Amazon’s strong entry into the on-demand world, and services like Hulu and Boxee, Blockbuster seems like a distant memory.
After taking almost too long to play catch-up to Netflix’s mail service, the last I heard of them was when they were trying to buy Circuit City almost a year ago. All of this was sounding quite desperate to me, and I assumed their days were shortly numbered. During this year’s CES coverage, the hosts of one of CNET’s podcasts caught themselves doing the same. “Is Blockbuster even around anymore”, they half-joked.
Turns out they are, and they made their own big announcement at CES that they were getting ready to release their own streaming set-top device. Blockbuster clearly doesn’t have the media buzz that all of the other players have, but maybe their massive retail presence will allow them to stay in the game long enough to, well ... stay in the game.
13 January 09
From a trip to The Cloisters.