[SIC] 148: Degrees of Freedom

July 8, 2021

Hi all, 

Hope everybody’s great; I’m just fine too, thanks. Very excited for my English wife and my half-English kids (and of course for Sam Raeburn) that England is in the Euro finals on Sunday, much as I commiserate with my Copenhagen fam on Denmark’s loss. Some really interesting sports links this week, which is a little different. 

What’s not different: [SIC] Talks returns today with special guest Joy Howard, the CEO and founder of Early Majority, a start-up currently in stealth mode. Joy’s a longtime buddy and has put in work at iconic brands (Coca Cola, Converse, Patagonia, J&J, Dashlane), helped two unicorns (Sonos & Lyft) go public and was even in Seely, the first American band signed to the 90’s Britpop powerhouse label Too Pure. She’s an honest-to-goodness powerhouse and this’ll be a fun chat (esp since it’ll be 10pm Joy’s time). 

Tune in at 4pm ET @dietznutz to see it live and join in, or find it in my grid thereafter. And for a quick taste of the Early Majority POV, check out today’s edition of Tools for Leaning Out (Substack)

Beyond that, a humble apology to Iolanda, Syd, Heidi and Gordon, whose contributions I neglected to shout out last week (argh, sorry). Not making that mistake this week: thanks to David, Jeff, and Mark for suggestions this go-round. Keep ‘em coming, all. 

X B.  

====[SIC] 148: Degrees of Freedom=====

Interviews Section: 

• [SIC] home and Allianz Brand Chief Hector Muelas got himself interviewed by 101 Great Minds (LinkedIn)  

• Guitar ELK John Mayer lands the Mach 3+ Spyplane sit-down (Blackbird Spyplane) 

• While [SIC] homie Lyz Olko talks to @Passerbuys while locked on a roof (Instagram)   

• And via Protocol: Matthew Ball helped launch a new Metaverse ETF, and said it's coming faster than you think. (CNBC)

• Elsewhere: Danish furniture gawds Hay go on a culinary tour with [SIC] homie Humberto Leon. 

Trends Section:

• The big changes coming for the beauty industry from Gen Z (Vogue Business) 

• A new vertical for luxury outdoors is emerging (Wunderman Thompson)

NFT Section:

• Disney’s getting into NFTs (at the US Patent office) (Patent Drop) 

• From David Bloom: “Janky and Guggimon from Superplastic are part of a growing crop of Internet-famous digital celebrities that live on multiple media, but get their start on social media. And now, of course, they're doing #NFTs with Christie's while botching a break-in at  the Christie's building…. Here’s my story.” (Forbes) 

• While Stella drops a fried chicken recipe NFT as a aid to struggling restaurants (PR Week)

Art Section:

• Via Jing Daily: The 19 Best Virtual Museum Tours In The World (Blooloop)

• A 60-person creative contingent of photographers, illustrators, writers and more will be sent by the French government on their own grand tours of the US as part of the ministry of foreign affairs’ cultural residency programme, Villa Albertine. (Monocle) 

• Via Public Announcement: The Most Shocking Shifts of the Post-Pandemic Art World (WSJ) 

• Related, from Jeff Carvalho: Why the Biggest Blue-Chip Art Collectors in the World Are Suddenly Pumping Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Into Baseball Card (Artnet) 

Social Section:

• The New York Times is using Instagram slides and Twitter cards to make stories more digestible (Nieman Lab)

• Related, via The Dirt: “@isaac_tiktok on Instagram curates some good vids for us all, and I don’t have to worry about falling into the vortex.”

• Also, TikTok videos are getting longer, up to 3 minutes (The Verge) 

• And TikTok wants you to send video resumes directly to brands to land your next gig. TikTok announced it will invite users to submit video resumes to participating companies, including Target, Chipotle, Shopify, Meredith, NASCAR and the WWE. The company encourages applicants to show off their skills in a creative way while tagging the content with the hashtag #TikTokResumes. (TechCrunch)

• [SIC] homie (and ACo compatriot) James Andrew on Why Clubhouse Mattered in 2020 and What They Should Focus on in 2021 (The Authenticated)

• And via Thingtesting: The pros and cons of Snapchat advertising (Instagram)  

Goals Section:

• For the swaggiest toddler: Bode does babies now. (Bode)

• And, via Ruby Dispatch: namesake designer Emily Bode blessed NYMag with her guide to Cape Cod.

Sneaker / Apparel Section:

• Effekt Footwear launches trainer made from 90 per cent recycled materials (Dezeen)

• While via Thingtesting: Umoja is a new plant-based sneaker brand (Instagram)

• And Patagonia’s “Waste Not” collection is built from offcuts and scrap material. (Patagonia)

• The sailors at Noah got a boat (Instagram) 

• Resale giant GOAT’s going retail (Vogue Business) 

• Not to be outdone, via Jing Daily: StockX has announced a multi-year partnership with contemporary artist Daniel Arsham designed to put artists first and disrupt the global arts community. Arsham will curate a special DropX product release series that will afford new artists the opportunity to release products directly to a global audience.

• Via Jing Daily: Streetwear’s racism problem (Popular Times)

• How to Shamelessly Knock off Supreme Worldwide and (almost) Get Away With It (Bloomberg)

• Meanwhile: Courts can’t keep up with Marilyn Monroe fakes. Nearly six decades after her death, the company that owns the rights to Monroe merch is struggling to hunt down her counterfeiters. (Bloomberg) 

• Via After School: Mel is returning! (Axios) 

• What men’s fashion sounds like - Monocle goes to Pitti Uomo and makes a pod. 

• Also, Off-White and IRAK’s KATSU made a graffiti video game (Instagram) 

Interactive Section:

• Help a Computer Win the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest (Pudding) 

• Additionally, this great interactive feature to get you out of your geographic music bubble (Pudding)

• Attention young creatives: It’s Nice That’s ‘next generation’ is taking applications. Cool interactive feature, too. 

• Plus, read the internet in new ways with these five websites (It’s Nice That) 

Skate Section:

• From Mark Searcy - enjoi and WWE have a deck series coming july18 (Mandatory) 

• And Nine club ep about the decks too (Youtube) 

Food & Beverage Section:

• [SIC] homie Andrea Hernandez and her excellent Snaxshot newsletter gets the Food and Wine treatment  (Instagram)

Flotsam & Jetsam Section:

• S/o Julien Cahn: the 4th is over but fireworks fans, there’s always Too Much Bang For The Buck (Instagram)

• Via Ruby Dispatch: Terminator 2 gets the oral history treatment.

• Umm, cool? Spiders are eating snakes all over the world: (Marginal Revolution) 

Big Think Section:

• Via Marginal Revolution: Take note, everybody: Culture Wars are long wars (Scholars Stage) 

• But if you hate them, blame liberals!?  (Jabberwocking)

Music Section:

• Via FOS: Roblox partnered with Sony Music Entertainment to create “music experiences” for the gaming platform. (Techcrunch)

• Via Beats & Bytes: Emerging Markets are changing the Superstar business. (Music Business Worldwide)

• Via Garbage Day:Billboard’s Hyperpop deep dive.  

• This has got Cam Farelly written all over it: Amazon’s got a vinyl of the month club (Cool Material)

• From David Bloom: How playlists are eroding musicians' direct relationships with fans (Vox).

• That time The Cramps took over a mental hospital (Monster Children) 

• Related: No more Crombie!? Monster Children got Jonah Hill to guest-edit an issue (Instagram)

Scary Section:

• Via Music Redef: Deepfake vocals are on the rise (Billboard)

• Selected global cities ranked by security camera penetration (Marginal Revolution) 

Marketing Section:

• TikTok made me buy it. The video app is causing products to blow up - and flame out - faster than ever (Vox) 

• Related: Why do we buy what we buy? (Vox)

• Ryan Reynolds Is Putting On a Marketing Masterclass (Medium)

• ByteDance is selling some of its AI systems to fashion apps, travel sites and more (Protocol)

• And TikTok May Be Testing An In-House Cameo Competitor Called 'Shoutouts' (Tubefilter)

• Via Dealbook: Russia declared that only its homegrown sparkling wines can be labeled “Champagne,” infuriating winemakers in France. (Politico) 

• Paging Sean Monahan: Gaming influencers will take over the world's attention, according to The Drum.

• Via Afridigest: Are Mobile Operators the next Fintech Startups?’

• adidas made a liquid billboard in the UAE (The Drum)  

• Which brings to mind the strange and colorful history of billboard advertising. (Billboard Connection) 

• Via Lean Luxe: HBR is having none of your employee retention tactics. The hazards of a ‘nice’ company culture (Harvard Business Review) 

Sports Section:

• B2B brands are racing to sports partnerships (The Drum)

• Is this the year soccer broke in the US? Via Front Office Sports, viewership on ESPN and ABC was up 33% for the first 24 matches of the tournament, compared with 2016.

Things to Do Section: 

• Negotiators: Blu Dot’s swap meet is back. 

• Shackle him not! OG skate legend Brian Lotti has a new show of paintings at Simchowitz in LA opening Saturday (Curate LA)  

• Also Saturday, but in NYC: fave brand/shop Pilgrim Surf Supply is doing a Community Surf with Kassia Meador and friends (Instagram) 

The Wayback Machine: 

• Crypto roots go way back. Via Marginal Revolution: Stablecoins, 1830-63 (Online Library)

======[SIC] 148: Degrees of Freedom=====