This will hopefully be the first & last time I mention Brad or Jen on this site, but these contrasting covers were worth noting. Why—because they were shot by the same photographer Steven Klein and shows two different directions for media hype these days.

I think it is the right time to be asking about brands and how they broadcast to the outside world. Of course there’s the thinking that a brand isn’t what they think they are, but what people think the company is. That a person’s perception of the company is what the brand really is. So I was interested in what Ana had to say when she posted about Why Brands Should NEVER Think Like Media Companies. Conventional thinking would be to take the best of what media provides in terms of communication and roll those tools into an advantage for the brand. But just because a brand could create original content—should they? Ana talks about Chanel and how they could use what people have already created. Seems like a good idea but if you were to read what Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist has to say about Burberry’s Art of The Trench.“Once a brand gives over part of its vision to the customer it loses a part of its control, something especially pertinent to Burberry”… So once it becomes a tug of war between controlling perception which is pretty tough or create a structure to facilitate unknown advantages.

Photo taken by Ashley Simko during the recent fashion week held in NYC.

Who doesn’t want to see an image of a Dog with a pipe?

This is why the animated gif will never die: Ovechkin Hit on Jagr at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The only catch is that it might take thirty seconds to load…

There’s much to be said about Alexander McQueen and what happened last week. While I wasn’t versed closely with his design’s he seemed like an interesting character who had an impressive future ahead of himself. In terms of what to point towards in reaction I found the Sartorialist’s post The McQueen Question. worth mentioning in terms of a business—will it continue or stop? Lots of great comments in reaction to the question.

Ever the realist, he built his table for one.

This and other gems of reacting to Dwell photos can be found at http://unhappyhipsters.tumblr.com

There’s way more to think about when posting a profile pic as OKTrends points out in their post about the 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures:

Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?

Photo Context. Is there alcohol? Is there a pet? Is the photo outdoors? Is it in a bedroom?

Skin. How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much breasts? How much ripped abs?

After reading about this I don’t think I’ll look at anyone’s pic the same way again…

Via i [love] marketing