I am a consultant thinker, merchant & creative strategist with a track record as an entrepreneur and brand builder. Over the years I have done a great deal of thinking about experiences, brands & people; and what it takes to engage and create desire.
 |  |  |
DOWNLOAD
Portfolio
Anatomy of Cool | 2008
What’s cool? What’s daggy? Who decides?
Dictionary definitions of the word “cool” containing words like “excellent” or “first rate” are very unsatisfying and, by definition, totally UNCOOL. Anyway, YOU know what we mean by “cool,” just as most Australians know what is meant by the opposite word “daggy.” To a certain extent, both of these words are really better defined by their application and usage.
I learned something about the anatomy (and alchemy) of cool by observing how a kid named Bob D’Angelo kept his school pants up in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs circa 1973.
Bob D’Angelo, a new boy from the US, was a very cool guy. You could feel it in your bones. Strong & silent. Nice physique. Straight long blonde hair. Good surfer.
But then there was Bob D’Angelo’s belt. It was black, woven and elasticised with an heraldic metal clasp at the front and adjustable sliders at the hips. That belt was regarded at the time as the epitome of dagginess and very uncool … UNTIL Bob wore the belt to school, and then they became cool. Voila!
This demonstration of alchemy and other experiences over time have led me to believe that:
1. Some people are naturally cool or not cool;
2. Some things are inherently cool or not cool; and
3. Cool people can make things cool, but cool things can’t make people cool.
That’s what I reckon.
General Thinking Network | Since 2001
The General Thinking Network is a network of Thinkers & doers: creative, wise & engaged; thoughtful people doing good work.
I co-founded the General Thinking “Global Thinkers Network” in New York in 2001. I did this to further demonstrate the utility and power of the network model that I had developed in conjunction with my work for REMO. Version 1.0 of General Thinking was one of the very first social networks, coming long before services like Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook. It was a really good idea … but somewhat ahead of its time.
If and when a new online version of the General Thinking network is relaunched, I’ll let you know about it here :)
REMO Catalogues | 1989 to 2005
REMO Catalogues won many international awards for design and creativity.
The copywriting for the 1991 Catalogue was nominated as the “Best in the World” by US Catalog Age magazine.
General Store Logo | 1991
In 1991 I had the idea to replace the segments of a Seven Deadly Sins T Shirt design with these REMO departmental words … designed to create an enduring symbol for our General Store.
Merchandise Iceberg | 1990
A traditional retail merchant will typically present merchandise as an end in and of itself. My feeling has always been that the collection of molecules are just the tip of a very large and very interesting contextual iceberg.
This metaphor served us well in the early days of the REMO General Store as we attempted to distinguish ourselves from the traditional molecule-selling merchants.
Brand Soup | 1989
This has been a useful metaphor in my work with brands over the years. Things that taste great are not always simple to make. Brands, like people, have personalities and flavours. Think of them as Brand Soup. For REMO, the base of the soup was functionality and fitness for purpose; but into this was tossed unequal measures of: classicism, modernism, nostalgia, invention, technology, humour, wit, compassion, and so on … The result is a tasty, yet quite complex combination of flavours that go into making a (hopefully) delicious and unique whole.
This new THEM=US REMO poster is a mashup of Tibor Kalman and the current Australian refugee processing controversy.
Here’s a blast from the past. Who remembers some of these Crown Street Windows from the original REMO General Store on the corner of Oxford & Crown Streets in Darlinghurst? Some classics in there. Richard Goodwin’s tribute to the Barrow Man ended up at the Powerhouse Museum I think.
Presentation to Baker & McKenzie Partners, Senior Associates & Special Counsel: Sydney & Melbourne | Monday 18 July 2011
