We recently hosted the Boston release party for Rob Walker’s new book, Buying In. As the author of New York Times Magazine column “Consumed”, Rob Walker has been a uniquely insightful chronicler of our ever evolving relationship with brands. In his new book, he discusses a new and lasting groundswell in both marketing practices and the consumer culture. We spoke with Rob about our changing dialog with brands and why we continue to buy in.

On a recent flight to my homeland (New Jersey) I discovered that my Jetway experience was sponsored by HSBC. As my plane was taxiing to the gate, I noticed out my window that every Jetway had an HSBC logo on it. I thought this was great; maybe I would have a more immersive Jetway experience. I didn’t.

HSBC didn’t deliver on the promise of a branded Jetway. A few travel-inspired posters joined the bank vaguely to the jetway occupants — travelers — but the connection was pretty tenuous. Seeing the logo on the exterior of the Jetway while readying yourself to make the big push and then rushing past advertising on your way to your connection or meeting, you do not make the link.

I am vaguely familiar with HSBC. I know they are some type of bank. But, to most people they probably think they are Jetway manufacturers. It seems to me like HSBC and Continental both missed an opportunity.

Obviously with fuel prices at an all time high and air travel down, airlines are attempting to squeeze out a penny from every possible source. Airlines can generate a lot of revenue selling off naming and sponsorship. Although HSBC is not sponsoring Continental or my flight, the act of sticking a logo an integral part of the traveler’s experience is a step in that direction.

I can’t wait until my seat is brought to me by La-Z-Boy, my headphones by Sony, and the greasy stuff coming out of the hinge on my tray table by WD40. And that cheery smile as your flight attendant wishes you good day: thanks to Crest!

I began this week with the new album from Gregg Gillis, or Girl Talk, a mash-up master who uses parts and pieces of tunes with seemingly no value judgment and often a tongue in cheek (Yo La Tengo + Missy + Cat Stevens + Timbaland). I love the album. I love that he knits an entirely new piece of music out of collected scraps even more.

It strikes me that we do this in other parts of our creative world these days too, using already manufactured goods as raw materials. In his Smoke Furniture, Maarten Baas uses controlled burning and finishing to “process” antiques into pieces with new layers of meaning. Tobi Wong has made a career of this, including on his bill of materials everything from MacDonalds coffee stirs to Alvar Aalto Savoy vases to the dollar bill.

The means for reediting our consumer world are handed down to us common folk as well. There is a whole website dedicated to hacking IKEA products into new objects. And Make Magazine presents us with dozens of ways monthly to rejigger the things around us.

Is this the privilege of an uber-consumer society? Indulgence, intelligent reuse, appropriation? I don’t know, but it does have a groove.

On Friday, Samsung introduced its latest wireless marvel, the Instinct phone–and marvelous it is. The company is known for introducing quality phones, but with the debut of the iPhone, Samsung and the entire industry were set back on their heels. Not for long, it seems. This new phone is Samsung’s haptic touch screen retort to Apple’s hand candy. While the Instinct is similar to iPhone in many ways, its new force feedback feature is completely unexpected and delightful.

Force feedback is not new. It was first introduced through video games years ago. It’s the rumble you felt through the steering wheel, when you trashed exotic racecars on your PC. Now thoughtfully reapplied, the Instinct brings back a wonderful tactile feedback that emulates the gentle clicking of a roulette wheel, as you scroll through your contact list. You have to feel it, to believe it.

I keep waiting for the time when I can say the “Made in China“ stigma is over. I feel that day is getting closer, but it’s a lot like the wait for that up and coming part of town, that has been getting better for the past 10 years, to get better. We all recognize that US manufacturing has had to address the off-shore challenge. Even the venerable precision toolmaker and machinist brand, L.S. Starrett - made in America since 1880, has come to terms with this and it is making products in Asia.

At what point is “Made in China” going to be acceptable? According to Steve Jobs, it’s acceptable for products to be made in China as long as they are “Designed by Apple in California.” However, this just adds to the lower quality perceptions. Finally, a company like container manufacturer Zevro comes along, makes quality products, and challenges the origin story in an interesting way by spinning it to, “Made with love in China.” Will efforts like this counter the inferiority complex? I personally feel they will, and as more companies begin to get over it, so will the consumers.

A friend of mine sent me a link to Kevin Atkinson’s video work, and then, a few days later, I spotted the same “method artist” on a blog that I read regularly. He seems to be getting a lot of attention.

I don’t know too much about programming or coding (well, who am I kidding…I don’t know anything!), but I thought the real-time visual effects were pretty fascinating. With endless editing capabilities at our disposal, it’s refreshing to see some one programming for live applications (ie public art instillations, concerts, nightclubs).

From what I picked up on his blog, Kevin writes 2d equations that cause the video to simulate things like waves, fun-house mirrors, water, and pixel balls. That’s the best explanation I can give, so if you want more information, check out his blog.

We recently completed our first environmental impact summary, which was a new and challenging exercise for us. Overall, it’s been an enlightening and useful process.

Continuum’s total operational footprint for 2007 was 1,160 metric tons or 8.9 metric tons per person. Surprisingly, our 130 person firm generated the equivalent CO2 emission of a little more than 3 households of average size through heating, cooling and running all the things that we plug in. As always, there’s more to the story. 77% of our operational impact was generated through employee transportation! Air travel was our largest single impact and it represents 55% of our total footprint. Getting to and from work on a daily basis contributed another 22%. The remainder was made up of our electricity and heating. Now that we have the report, we can target and prioritize our reduction efforts.

We set out to determine our footprint in January and we hired a firm to help us with the process. Unfortunately, along the way we realized that the company neglected to include half of our energy consumption in their summary, so we set out to correct it. It took us a while to uncover the right protocol, conversions and calculations. However, having gone through the reporting process ourselves, we understand it much better. Basically, all you need is a summary of your annual utility bills and the amount of your travel and commuting. With these numbers you can use established conventions to determine your baseline footprint

In hindsight, it seems like a relatively simple process and I encourage everyone to give it a try. Certainly, having a reputable firm perform the audit is ideal, because it allows you to avoid self-reporting. Down the road, when carbon emission is regulated, everyone will be required to have a third party validate their footprint. By then, there should be a legitimate set of firms to choose from.

For more information, check out our base-line Environmental Footprint Report.

Great talk by Mark Bittman, NYTimes culinary journalist, on how we’re diligently marching off an agricultural cliff to certain planetary demise.

Bittman offers a humorous retrospective of American consumption, from the grain-obsessed 20th century to the carb-phobic, protein-gorging 21st, and how our food industry is effecting harm on the environment and our health. Parts of his rant are reassuring (it’s not your fault you still crave overly-processed macaroni and cheese; there was a war somewhere and Mom had to find work at the Twinkie plant downtown), and other parts less reassuring (so you enjoy that organic salmon? It was vacuum-packed in plastic, crated in styrofoam and flown up on a jumbo-jet from Chile). His data is thorough and his observations sobering.

The takeaway? Buy local. Buy seasonal. More produce. Less meat.

What’s Wrong With What We Eat
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/263

Here’s Starbucks’ caffeinated take on social networking–a site within a site that allows customers and partners (aka Starbucks’ employees) to share, comment on and rank new ideas, with the most favored ideas rising like frothy cappuccino foam to the top. Most importantly, the site has an “Ideas in Action” section, where the best ideas and most frequently raised issues are discussed. If they keep this site alive, it could grow into a real dialogue between the company and its customers. At the very least, it gives Starbucks a good sense for what flavor of frappucino their die-hard latté junkies are jonesing for.

Photograph by Andrew Bettles (New York Times)

In a recent piece for his column “Consumed”, Rob Walker poses an interesting question: Can a Dead Brand Live Again?

Not surprisingly, even long dormant brands have value. Brands such as Brim and Underalls still have high recognition even though they have been out of circulation for over a decade. When we reference successful “live” brands, we tend to think of aspirational brands like Apple and Harley Davidson and define their value in terms of iconic imagery or fiercely loyal customers. What is interesting about Rob’s piece is the idea of ‘brand acquiescence’, or a brand’s ability to help us make mental shortcuts in order to make purchasing decisions easier in categories that are either low involvement, low risk or where time is critical. It is one of the only articles on Brand from a mainstream source that can be valuable to people responsible for brands that don’t inspire the passion of a Miata or an Ipod.

Great brands don’t have to inspire passion. They can simply give us well timed teaspoons of confidence and good judgement in a frenetic world.