David Beckham and the sperm donor

 

SF is not the usual place to find preening footballers, especially ones who are quite so over exposed but being as this is a blog about marketing, art, fashion, tattoos and general perving…. Monsieur Beckham makes the cut on this occasion.

Focused marketing

Today saw the launch of Becks new kecks, basically he is good at selling pants and since leaving CK to create his own line for H&M his coffers have swelled more than the underwear of a gaggle of gays standing outside H&M staring at Golden Balls close up.

These days it is not good enough just to launch a new line, you have to do something more. Sports brands have this down to a tee with their epic adverts featuring stars such as the Brasilian football squad, superstar ballers such as Kobe, Tiger and the Irish Tiger etc. On this occasion H&M added Becks to a very well known Brit director and former Madonna sperm donor and a bit of Hollywood dazzle to create a Becks knob fest.

Originally planned for 30 seconds (apparently) the ad is a full 90 seconds of David running around in his smalls after getting locked out of his house. It is a ridiculous premise but it is an ad so that matters not.

What I find more interesting than the big name combos, the setting, the storyline, the extended cut, the underwear, the hype about the premiere on Channel 4, etc, etc is that back in October, media worldwide were awash with stories about Becks being caught in his underwear and unsuspecting tourists coping an eyeful.

A masterful marketing guy getting a little bit of pre – interest, and free publicity for H&M and Brand Beckham or just an accident. I’ll leave you to make that call.

Either way I’d hazard a guess that most straight women, gay men and even some straight men would happily remove that pair of H&M undies. SF would only do it to find out if it is true that he has a Prince Albert

la Moss – 20 years on

4Moss

Twenty years of drink, drugs, style, headlines and very few interviews. Say what you will about la Moss but she is interesting if nothing else, able to seamlessly define a generation.

i-D the bible of cool for 33 years this month has Kate Moss on the cover 20 years after her first appearance, in the familiar one eye obscured look.

Shot by Daniele Duella and Iango Henzi, four different covers exploring a different side to the oft pictured model of the last 20 year, fragility, innocence and purity. Words not often used with a certain la Moss.

Kate Moss is a case study in how to build a brand with mystique and saying everything by saying nothing. The clamour to hear the thoughts of Moss is huge but she is able to work across so many brands and styles because of keeping quiet. As a wise man once said, it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt

Here are a few of the other ones from the last 20 years

Blue Moss

Platinum Moss

B+W Moss

 

Camo Moss

 

Kate Moss

 

 

A veritable aesthetic eye Wank

by Jason Pierce – Williams

What does a company that practices law everything from banking to copyright to IT to real estate have to do with creative imagery? Well they put up the £££ to sponsor a photographic portrait prize that serves to exhibit your casual amateur snapper with the best and most lauded in the business. Therefore even the most anti brand luddites must admit that their cash money has a purpose.

Sponsorship is a good thing when done to bring otherwise lost arts and areas of interest back to the masses. For one it is only £2 to go and see Taylor Wessing at the National Portrait Gallery.

Anyway on to the entries.

Mo Farrah by Mate Peters

Sixty portraits have made the shortlist from over 5000 entries taken on everything from a mobile phone through to digi and on to old school film, a veritable aesthetic eye wank. There are award winning artists shooting Olympic champions, there are absolute novices snapping their family, there are the fringes of society pictured and a heroic photographer who lost multiple limbs shooting in an area of conflict.

Gillian Wearing by Robin Friend

Ai WeiWei (hero) by Matthew Niederhauser

My personal no.1 Gandee Vasan

Moving, funny, dutty, crazy, sexy, cool.

Juergen the pervy German

SF loves Germans, they are not that different to the English. Similar sense of humour, history of war, questionable record with other races, intense feeling of superiority, Sensible and refined to the untrained eye but utter filth-bags when it comes to a bit of slap n tickle.

Helena B-C & Viv 

Juergen Teller is one such German with a rather kooky eye and a fondness for all things slightly off the wall, even more so if it involves fanny, willy, bottoms and breasts.

Boobs & Juergan & bums & fufu

You do not realise how influential this photographer has been, amongst his fans are la Moss, Westwood (see vadge) Jacobs and YSL, and shooting the biggest names and for the most culturally influential titles from the Face to Vogue, from i-D to Die Zeit.

la Moss & boobs

Woo is a whirlwind tour of his life in magazines, shots of the most famous boobs in the world to his rather infamous own winkle. Throughout the shots there is a humour tinged with smut and a darkness lit up with crafty hints of life.

Viv’s fufu

The ICA in London is perfectly placed in Central London on the Mall, it is also the scene of some of the best and most alternative exhibitions. Plus it has a pensioners fufu on the wall

The Reebok Classic – The Slag becomes a Stunner

Time to fess up, for a self confessed trainer freak, SF has one particular type which while seminal and of it’s time, brings nothing but a nauseous Lynx Africa enthused, overly baggy, Kappa-slapper almost Spliffy cold sweat. The Reebok Classic

Not pretty is it?

That was until now.

Look at this bona-fide beauty of a trainer, it does not look like like a classic that would be worn by a football hooligan, bird shagging, stella drinking geezer called Tel.

This is pretty….

It is not in leather, it is a sort of suede material in navy blue and exclusively designed in collaboration with European sneaker mainstay Sneaker n Stuff in Stockholm. This makes up a part of the Reebok Certified Network for the 30th anniversary of the much maligned but sometimes loved Reebok Classic. Available through only 17 stockists across the globe.

SF is having a re-evaluation

Thanks Hypebeast

The year that was in Lego

SF loves Lego, everyone loves Lego. Children around the world let their imaginations go wild to these little block of plastic. Anything, even if at first glance seems perfect or without comparison can be improved by Lego. I think all advertising should have a lego version, music videos would be far more appealing made in glorious Logo-colour, big budget movies would also be improved. Imagine porn in Lego…. hold up that’s just plain weird, but you get the idea.

2012 was the finest year in living memory for London, for the UK in general it was annus mirabilis, key events such as the Jubilee and Olympics make the top ten moments of the year… and now in Lego. Created by a certain 18 year old called Harry Bossert. Enjoy.

SF does to agree with all entries (Psy, Twat McCartney) but the medium used makes it ok

Spotted on Shortlist

When engineering geekery goes crazy

Just this week a certain Mr. Dyson was bemoaning the fact that there are fewer and fewer engineers in the UK and that the Government should pull their blue blood fingers out and doing something to stem the tide of our best talent going elsewhere or into other industries.

Well if educational institutes used something like this in their recruitment drive then maybe just maybe they could get more interested. It is like Hot Chip but just for the engineer in us rather than the computer geek.

Enjoy MR-808 mechanic drum robot

Toddla T & Roisin Murphy

If SF was a vocalist, we would only want to ever be Roisin Murphy.

Overpowered

If I was a DJ looking for someone to collaborate with on my first studio album there would be only one choice the very same Roisin Murphy

One of three women that SF would consider sleeping with…. well not quite sleep

Watch this – The Classic Casio Digital

It is a classic, everyone owns one. It is like white Converse shoes, a good pair of denim Levi’s, Nike Air Max and getting your ear pierced when you are young. It is timeless, must happen and your kids will do it too.

The original

Colours a plenty, authentic? Maybe not

Yellow digi Casio

White digi Casio

Red digi Casio

Pink digi Casio

Purple digi Casio

Brown digi Casio

Dark blue digi Casio

Orange digi Casio

Gold digi Casio

 

CASIO. That is all

Everything was moving, just too slowly

NYC – nothing like the deep south

Twelve brilliant photographers from across the globe in one place, the Barbican Centre London. Everything Was Moving covers thought provoking, amusing, dark, and difficult subjects in colour and black and white and using a variety of methods which were revolutionary back in the day. These days any Thomas, Richard or Harold can use an app to put an effect on a shot an make it look good, but not even close to these original shots using good old fashioned cameras with film.

Arse peacock

With Apartheid graphically explained by Ernest Cole and David Goldblatt to Bruce Davidson and William Eggleston documenting the Civil Rights movement that shook up the USA in the middle of last century. Added to this Vietnam pictures, shots with Chairman Mau, Mexican black and white pictures and an Asian flavour with Raghubir Singh.

GoldBlatt – Size of the problem

The most powerful shots for me were of the South African Apartheid from David Goldblatt, showing the European’s rather short sighted view of the black people in Soweto and Joberg. It was quite astounding what went on in South Africa when you consider the Worldwide outrage at Nazi Germany, although not as extreme in the results, quite as wrong in the thinking and affect it had on the people, the perception of all involved and the effects to this day.

Goldblatt – Looking for a solution

All shots were accompanied with text to give added depth but the facial expressions told a thousand stories. From the deluded white settlers to the strong proud mine workers of Soweto.

Boris Mikhailov – Exposure overlays

Plus this dude looks pretty amazing….

Eggleston – capturing something very American

On until January 13th, a top SF pick.