THESCRAPBOOK

There’s loads of bike stuff on TheScrapBook, but I’ve been thinking about a scooter for a long time now. It’s the lazy man’s bicycle in a sense (good for town, cheaper than a car, no congestion charge). I’m not going to discuss the relative merits of bicycle vs scooter, but I did want to record these fine looking rides from Honda that I’ve had my eye on for a few years now.

Bear in mind too, these are not “vintage” scooters or anything, but modern (ish) machines. I say “modern” as I think only the Zoomer is still available from the Honda official site!

The links all take you to Google Image searches so you can see different colours etc. Below are the simple black models for each one.

Honda SRX 50 (a/k/a Joker or Shadow – it’s the classic look, with wide bars for a “harley” type stance. Not so good for in-between traffic I guess, but what a ride!):

Honda CN250 (a/k/a Helix - This ride is coolest kid on the Tokyo block, currently. Word is that this will be the bike to be seen in by 2015 for the rest of the world.):

Honda Zoomer (a/k/a Ruckus – Short on space and potential for backies, but the stripped down Army style is what makes this rugged beastie worth checking out):

A bit of blowing my own trumpet, but we (Mindshare UK) have just won an award for a Nike project: “Most Wanted”

On the 19th June 2008, at half time during the Portugal vs. Germany match in Euro 2008, Sir Alex Ferguson called out to all young footballers in the UK to “stand up and be counted”.

In 6 hours, 35,000 people attempted to fill 1,600 trial places, and Most Wanted had got underway.

We began following the action, creating fast-paced films as highlights for each trial:

To give a deeper insight into what motivates a typical young footballer, we also followed the stories of three young hopefuls in the trial system; Nia, Scott and Azeem. Here’s Scott at one of the trials, checking out the standard of the opposition…

This content was pushed out over a Bluetooth network of; 43 Powerleague 5 a side centres, Niketown London, 5 JJB Stores (the biggest ones, of course) and the Trafford Centre, and Bullring shopping centres. Why? Because the active audience we were speaking to were out and about, playing football, with their friends – and mobile was the best way to get through to them. Mobile content was no longer than 90 seconds long, the longer pieces above lived on Nikefootball.com and Youtube throughout the Summer months.

The Final 22

We needed to make a big celebration for the 22 Most Wanted players in the UK, and reward their efforts in getting to the Final weekend. We created a 1 hour show, Sir Alex’s Most Wanted, airing on Sky 1, the narrative following on from what our audience had been viewing on Mobile over the Summer. It was scheduled immediately after the Sky show Soccer AM, with exclusive PR previews and continuity references in the show (via Nike PR) to ensure our target audience stayed tuned in. This last part of the campaign really took the Most Wanted experience out to that wider, Football loving audience who want to be inspired by Nike’s communications.

Oh, we improved market share by 25% as a result.

PSFK reports that Mos Def has launched his new album, The Ecstatic, as a t-shirt.

PR stunt definitely, but clever modern music marketing. Once again – like Prince, Radiohead, Groove Armada and the rest – it relies on already having a loyal fan base. But understanding this audience and how they interact with each other/music/marketing etc is what makes this awesome.

Eskimon asks:

In a world where illegal downloads are commonplace, what alternative channels can commercial artists harness?

The music t-shirt has long been a valuable source of social expression; they’re what Hugh MacLeod might term ‘social objects‘.

So making the t-shirt the core product, and providing access to the music via a link on the hang tag, is a masterstroke of contemporary marketing. [it's likely to be copied for Mike Snow and Santogold's albums too]

Mos’s approach identifies the expressive benefit of ownership, and amplifies that very same expressive element.

That’s rather insightful. Consider if Mos sells a T-Shirt made in conjunction with a company like Supreme; at recommended retail of £30-50 that’s essentially putting the “CD” price at £15 and the Tshirt at £15-35. Both fairly respectable if you ask me.

Best of all for hip hop fans, the album, The Ecstatic, is getting good reviews. Pitchfork gives it an 8.0.

Thoughts, image and chatter courtesy of NotAnotherMindshareBlog, Paste magazine and PFSK

every once in a while you get hooked on a track, and you know it’s borderline acceptable but you go with it anyway and normally don’t let on… well here’s my recent one… by classicx.

We probably should be apologising for the lack of posts recently, but we’ve all been on holiday and are suffering from the mad chaos that work always tends to greet you with. The sound of the summer that has kept that beach vibe alive through the long hours stuck back at the desk has to be this bossa mix from The Society of the Spectacle

In particular, this song from Sunny and Phyllis and the Danes, “I’ve Been Lost”, is probably my stand out track from the selection, though to be honest the whole thing is filled with absolute goodies. All rare as fuck no doubt, but sincerely groovy.

Download the mix here

Globe bikes is a sub-brand of US cycling giant Specialized, and recently released a few interesting bikes. The brand is aimed at lifestyle cyclists, as opposed to specialized which is more performance oriented. i think, and i’m sure i’ll be corrected on this, but Garrett Chow of Mash SF is the new creative director, and what a great job to get, i’m incredibly envious! they’ve released some interesting looking bikes recently, so have a look at their website for more!

these beauties are one of the ’secret’ pieces of kit that team GB used to devistating effect at the Beijing olympics, albeit covered by a sleek overshoe. the carbon sole can be heated / re-heated and molded to the foot, and weighs an amazing 225grams per shoe, but they’re not cheap at $360 a set…

watch a video of the a-one being fitted here, and check the bont website here

Haha! 25 years to make. From the self-professed Rich Jerk

“New card. Whaddya think?”

Jeff Jarvis’ blog Buzz Machine has been a great source of modern media thinking particularly when thinking about future of newspapers. in the videos below he raises an interesting point – Advertising is in some ways an admission of a product’s failure to engage the consumer. If the product were truly embraced by consumers or useful or whatever, then advertising would be superflous. It’s a by product of their being too much choice in the marketplace that advertising has to educate consumers about what is available and to influence purchase.

He also suggests that the role for newspapers or media companies in the future could be to help smaller businesses in growing themselves, in an advisory capacity.

Read more and watch a video of a speech where Jeff Jarvis exands on these ideas, here

Springwise has a good link to vending machine shoes catering to the late night tired feet too much heel girls market. Nice.

Onistuka had a vending machine for shoes in Carnaby Street a while back.

UniQlo have made much of their vending machine Tshirts.

Convenience fashion is clearly in.