Febreze Sport launches!

I can't say too much about the details, but I am sooooooooooo excited to see that Febreze Sport is now visible to the public. I did a ton of work on the design part of this brand extension, along with awesome people from Grey, Landor, SMG, Integer and other agencies, and it was by far the most rewarding project I've ever worked on. I don't say things like this often or lightly, but everybody on the team, both at P&G and the agencies, was super, super cool and we did an amazing job of working together. That's pretty rare in the competitive world of consulting, especially where there is some overlap, but I always felt like we were 100% aligned. A ton of credit goes to the design managers on the project, who I probably shouldn't name, but were both great to work with! It might sound corny but I seriously consider them friends after this, and again I don't say that often. Thanks!!

Visit Febreze Sport on the web, and keep your eyes peeled for it in stores. Buy a whole case!! Buy 10!

Good moves for T-Mobile's G1

So I bought a G1 over the weekend, and looked at the official website to learn how to use the thing (it's a pretty sweet device, although not perfect). I was pretty impressed at the execution of their online presence, and although I could go on for a long time about their marketing in general, I'll just share two things that are most relevant in the context of lifestyle marketing.


Excellent music choices
The bulk of the site is Flash video that explains the phones features. Usually this kind of thing uses lame stock music that makes it feel like some CD-ROM you'd get on your first day at GE to explain your health insurance. T-Mobile, on the other hand, went the extra mile and used legit artists like Motion City Soundtrack (one of my favorite bands). It makes a big difference in positioning the G1 as a device for cool nerds, as opposed to yet another hip hop-influenced wireless brand.

New colorways
Lifestyle brands aren't just a collection of price, performance, and features, they're platforms for self-expression. As such, offering your product in a variety of colorways is a very easy, yet extremely powerful, avenue for adding lifestyle marketing. It really is that simple! Just make it in different colors! In comparison to other product-based options, it's about as inexpensive as you can get: no real capital expenditures like molds, tooling, etc, just a little overhead in managing the additional SKUs.

Anyway, the G1 is now available in brown, black and white. The white one is new, and the most expressive color for sure. I'd like to know their plans for additional colorways, because it seems like it would be a mistake to go too far, but it's also fair to say that brown, black and white aren't exactly the most inspiring options. I'm hoping to see more cool options like the G1 "developer edition" with the screenprinted pattern on the back. It's simple, subtle, and very much on brand.

2XL earbuds are SUHWEET

I was at Best Buy today and got introduced to 2XL headphones. I'm not sure if it's a new brand or not, but it's new to me and I can't really find any information about it. I'm pretty sure it's a sub-brand from Skullcandy, who have been making huge waves with their explosive growth in the portable audio category. Much like Skullcandy, they're low-priced but good quality, and use design as the primary point of difference from their competitors. I can't find any images of the packaging, but it looks AWESOME at shelf despite being extremely simple. I am absolutely in love with the logo!

The earbuds themselves also look really distinctive, with a variety of really nice colorways. Also of note is their Nuevo Sonido collection, which is a Mexican-inspired colorway and identity. It's really well-done because it feels super authentic and subtle. You often see marketers try way too hard when reaching out to Latinos, which always comes off as phony and contrived. Nuevo Sonido, on the other hand, seems like a really nice execution to this white guy.

Check out their site at http://2xl.com


My take
1. Skullcandy is growing like a weed, stealing marketshare and shelf space from established brands because they're the only player in the category that knows how to use lifestyle marketing. 2XL should do more of the same. Hats off to them for shaking things up!

2. 2XL is proof that awesome design doesn't have to cost anything. The packaging is extremely minimal yet super impactful because of effective use of color and a brilliant logo. The products themselves are equally simple, but the bold, expressive colorways make them pop like crazy at shelf. If you're creative like this, you can use design to differentiate your product without adding a single penny to your cost of goods, so cost is never an excuse for bad design!

Nixon enters the audio market

You probably know Nixon for their iconic watches, but they're not sitting on their laurels. They just announced the launch of a new portable audio business:

“It’s been a real challenge to go from the bottom up, but we are really happy where we’ve ended up because of it,” says Crane. “We are basically treating the new line as a second core category, and the idea that we approached it that way, with all our guns blazing, has really started to pay off.”
...
Why headphones? DiNenna says that while partnering with other brands in the past, Nixon often got suggestions from peers on what should come next. “People always say, ‘You know what? You should make this or you should make shoes or you should make sunglasses,’ but nothing ever really felt like a match for what we wanted to do.” Taking a look around at friends and co-workers and their interests and passions, DiNenna realized that centering a new product on music was the most logical transition.

My take
Obviously there's no guarantees, but from the quotes above, it sounds like they're doing everything exactly like they should, and I have no doubts that they'll be very successful. There are two specific things that make me so hopeful:

1. They're starting from the ground up
With lifestyle brands, it is critical to understand that each product category plays by its own, unique set of rules. You don't necessarily have to follow every one to the tee, but you must know all of them, so if you break them it's a strategic point of differentiation, not a dumb mistake that blows your credibility with the core.

2. They're pursuing their passions
They chose headphones because they wanted to do headphones. While that kind of arbitrary decision-making would be anathema in the world of traditional brands, it makes perfect sense for a lifestyle brand. If you don't live the brand, it will be very obvious to your consumer that it's a phony, contrived move. Authenticity is a given when pursuing a category they're passionate about, and very few things matter more than authenticity for a lifestyle brand.

10 Commandments of Sneaker Design

Sneaker Freaker offers 10 witty commandments of sneaker design. For example, #5, "Thou Shalt Pay Attention To Detail":

Give the consumer a few little surprises.

A little trim that’s hard to spot here, a reference for those ‘in the know’ there. It makes a tremendous difference and rewards the heads without descending too far into cliquesville. Go ahead, contrast that stitching to set off your choice of colours, and illustrate the lining. Who cares if that’s the part that’s invisible from the outside? There’s no such thing as too much attention to detail. Don’t let it get rejected by consumers after an initial wave of excitement on seeing low res images on a hype blog turns to disdain on seeing the production model in the flesh.

My take
This is great reading whether you're in the sneaker design business or not (I'm not, but I am in the product design business). With a little imagination, it works as a playbook for product design in any lifestyle category.

If you only remember one thing from the article, make it #5 (above). With lifestyle brands, the devil really is in the details. Don't skimp, because your core consumer will notice! This is in contrast to traditional brands where the design details really aren't that important. For example, does it really matter what the graphics look like on the Kleenex box? No, because nobody cares about Kleenex. On the other hand, consider Sanrio's paper goods business. They polish every detail of all their products, because they know their consumer will scrutinize and appreciate every one of them.

Read more here