Topic: dp[r]m

: Made In China and brand positioning

By: g | December 28th, 2011 | No Comments » |

I recently read a blog post from a company regarding ‘Made in China’. Usually such posts come about as a statement responding to people’s reactions, good or bad, to what you are doing. I’ve done them myself over the years, so I can sniff one out when I see it. Well written and equally well reasoned, ultimately it’s a defence as to why they are (now) having their stuff made in China and probably not somewhere in the EU, as they used to be when they started out.

The post is interesting in itself, talking about the quality and standards of the suppliers they use in China, stating that the label ‘made in China’ does not automatically denote rubbish quality. And they are right, it does not. Indeed some very good quality comes out of China, though interestingly enough there usually is an appropriate price tag associated with it because even in China, good quality costs money. Overall the post explained while many of the products they offer are now made in China, the only option for volume production, the quality is high and the working standards of the workers involved are good and improving. ‘Improving’.

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Tags:china,manufacture

: Hipsta-whatic?

By: g | November 28th, 2011 | No Comments » |

I have several good friends, who also may happen to be photographers, like ‘real ones’, who might start berating me for what I am about to say here… I *think* I can live with that.

About a year ago I, after much resiting, got an iPhone. What a bloody brilliant camera it is (it’s a fairly crap phone). Since I got it though, I have been taking lots of pictures of things that generally interest/amuse/bemuse me. This is a pretty big deal because up until I got the ‘phone’ I had been a monumentally crap picture taker. When I think of all the fantastic things I’ve seen over the years and I barely have a picture to show for it. This was because up until the acquisition of this ‘phone’, carrying a camera capable of taking a half decent digital image was, well, a right pain in the arse, and before that, I was just too lazy to deal with film. Now though, I have a pretty decent camera with me most of the time, so I can take a pic whenever the whim strikes. And it seems to strike quite a bit these days.

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Tags:hipstamatic

: Sydney bike commuters: What the hell?

By: g | November 15th, 2011 | No Comments » |

I wrote about this a while back, the dreaded ‘commuter rider’. Well, not dreaded, it’s a great thing to see people on bikes and the more people on bikes means greater demand for better infrastructure, and that can only be a good thing. Alas, I am writing about it again…

Over the past weeks I have had to abandon my mid afternoon rides, the mind bending heat melted my brain one afternoon, so I decided if this heat was going to keep on, early mornings were now the place to be. Of course that meant hitting ‘peak hour’ on the return ride, but hey, small price to pay.

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: MBA + 29er = sad, sad…sad

By: g | October 14th, 2011 | No Comments » |

Over the past year I have been receiving Mountain Bike Action, part of the deal when one spends money advertising (not for LG but my other gig). For some time now my impressions of it have steadily been sinking, thus it should be no surprise that the new issue I have here just managed to blow the ship clean in half.

For a few issues now I have noticed a clear conflict, or even contradiction, in the editorial from one issue to the next, call it ‘sponsored editorial catered to the advertiser of the moment’ if you will, but usually one month you’ll read one thing and then the next you’ll read he total opposite.

Well, this issue takes this to new heights. With nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon, I sat down to have a flick through. On the cover, in the usual brash and loud style, is the ‘tabloid’ style headline “HOW & WHY 29-INCH WHEELS CONQUERED AMERICA”. Nothing new, this topic is in pretty much every issue in some form of positive/negative cycle. This particular claim though was the most brash and really made me groan – the previous issue I thought they had finally put this to bed by saying one is not better than the other, they are just ‘different’, something I happily would agree with.

So on opening the mag, temporarily forgetting the headline, I was knocked over by the size of an ‘in magazine’ advert, aka in-magazine-catalogue (as opposed to an insert or supplement) by a certain 29er brand. A lot of cash, and I mean a LOT, has been spent on having this put in the mag. And then it dawned on me. Half way through the mag I came to the headline article: “HOW & WHY 29-INCH CONQUERED AMERICA and why world domination is certain to follow”.

Seriously, what the fuck do you call that?

So, we have a massive insertion made by a 29er dedicated bike brand and then a 4 page editorial telling the reader, in a supposedly informed manner of course, just why the 29er is the way of the future.

(following pages showcases a pro’s bike – a 26″)

In any other industry, this sort of blatantly bias editorial content would be called out for what it is and the publication would be seen as a sham, or at very least shunned by most half serious/informed readers. For some reason though, the mountain bike industry just keeps accepting this sort of trollop and what’s worse, a certain sector of the market actually buys into it. I honestly am shocked at the blatant audacity of it all this time around.

If there was any doubt I was going to move advertising dollars elsewhere, this sealed it (I had already made the decision prior to Interbike). Even if advertising is just advertising, I for one care about the quality of the publication where our advertising resides. The last thing I want to do is help perpetuate this sort of lamearse content.

: Knowing when your licked!

By: g | August 25th, 2011 | No Comments » |