Schupp Company Blog

A Match Made In Monkey Heaven

Friday, February 19th, 2010

So I’m at a friend’s house for a Fat Tuesday celebration, and as I’m hovering over the pot of jambalaya I noticed something interesting on his kitchen counter. First off, he has a banana rack (not to be confused with a banana hammock) to display his fresh bananas. I found that very intriguing and very metrosexual. Secondly, the Chiquita bananas had little monkey stickers on them. What happened to the traditional, blue banana sticker that I subconsciously equate with a fresher, superior tasting banana? Oh, that sticker is on the bananas in a new video game for the Wii.

It appears as though Chiquita and Sega have teamed up for a little cross promotion. The famous blue-stickered banana will be featured in the new “Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll” game for the Nintendo Wii. In exchange, Chiquita is promoting the game release on 180 million bananas in grocery stores (and on banana racks) near you.

Pulled from an article at Cincinnati.com, the Chiquita people describe the relationship like so:

“We feel that this is a natural fit – to promote healthy and fresh snacking while exercising on a fun game,” Chiquita Brands International spokesman Ed Loyd said. “We’ll obviously be tracking any changes in volume, but the key thing for us is to build the brand.”

It seems like a “natural fit” indeed, Ed. You got my attention.

The deal, which does not involve money changing hands, follows last fall’s national TV ad campaign, Chiquita’s first in more than 20 years. In addition, the company is said to be aggressively pursuing other brand licensing deals for products such as its frozen fruit smoothie concentrate and banana bread mix.

The Chiquita presence adds to a growing list of in-game ads. Well-known titles such as EA’s Madden NFL football franchise and even the space opera “Halo 3” now routinely include in-game ads or product tie-ins.

Tags: Chiquita Bananas, Cross Promotion, food, marketing, Product Placement, products
Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »

Lady GaGa: Polaroid’s new Creative Director

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

The 5 grammy nominee, Pop star Lady GaGa becomes Polaroid’s new Creative Director. How bizarre is this. What does this 23 year old singer actually know about technology? So far, she apparently has designed a set of “heartbeat” headphones that evoke more fashion than technology for the company. The basis of the partnership is to help Polaroid to appeal to younger demographic. Good luck.

Watch the video press release here:

Lady Gaga – New Polaroid Creative Director

Tags: interactive, marketing, news, products, trends
Posted in Advertising, Art, Culture, Style | No Comments »

Skateboard Graphics Retrospective

Friday, August 14th, 2009

I’ll never forget the day I bought my first “real” skateboard. Standing across the counter at a local skate shop staring at the wall-to-wall spread of colorful wooden planks. Which board would replace my worn out Variflex? My requirements for my new skateboard purchase were pretty simple…it had to look kick ass. At the time, skateboard graphics were just starting to leave the conservative world and manufactures were beginning to realize that technological innovations in skate deck design were not as viable of a marketing ploy as the graphic on the underside. Kids didn’t really care if a board had a concave surface or a steeper tail. Young skaters needed a way to identify with their personal hero’s, or at least immortalize them in any way possible. Personality was punk and punk was attitude. As a pro skater, the place to personify that attitude was with the graphics on the underside of your own pro model.

$35 and 5 minutes later, my first “real“ skateboard became a Schmitt Stix, John Lucero X2 or “Behind the Bars” model. At the time, Lucero was not a world-renowned rider, but the X2 was his first pro model released under the new up and coming Schmitt Stix label. Besides a few snap shots in Thrasher Magazine and the occasional print ad, even though he was already a legend amongst his peers, I barely knew who John Lucero was.

What appealed to my 13 year old mid-western mind was the cool factor of the illustrated graphic on the bottom of his skateboard. The twisted demented jester graphic pried at my hell bent desire to break out of my suburban confines and unleash the fury of my youth upon the world…or at least the neighborhood.

Fast forward to present day…

These days, skateboards are all basically the same shape and size. They closely resemble the early freestyle type deck and it’s no wonder why. The actual tricks have elevated to a level of sophistication that have surpassed segregation from the original methods of style and performance: freestyle, street and vert.

Skate deck artwork has taken a turn as well. Today still, Like Lucero, riders themselves translate their own personality into signature graphics. But, the board as a canvas has come full circle. Art board companies have spawned and the amount of new school vs. old school collector decks have multiplied with the advent of commissioned artwork by world famous artists, fashionable skate deck only designers and the ability to turn the skateboard itself into a political statement.

New Skateboard Graphics written by J. Namdev Hardisty and published by Mark Batty Publisher is a diverse catalog spanning just over a decade and containing over 400 full color illustrations across 145 pages. With a reflective foreword by Michael Leon, rider interviews and an unbiased peek across numerous brands, anyone who has been a fan of skate culture artwork will enjoy the rich visual stimulation this book delivers.

Skateboarding may not be the only industry to have made a complete transition through artistic influence, but reviewing its history through mediums like this book is something I enjoy, and who knows, maybe some day a few of the decks I’ve designed will make it into volume 2.

Tags: marketing, products, sports, trends
Posted in Art, Culture, Miscellaneous, Recreaction, Style | 3 Comments »

Satan’s Products, Made With 100% Pure Evil.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Have you ever been out and about, whether it’s shopping, driving, at a bar or anywhere, and seen a product that just infuriates you. Something that just makes your blood boil and put’s you in a bad mood for a few seconds until it’s gone. I think there are products out there that Satan himself has created just to piss people off.

My list:

1. PT Cruisers – I hate this car, every time I see one I want to smash into it. Why would any one buy this awful piece of shit and actually want to be seen in it. I don’t know what it is about that car, but damn it’s just makes me angry every time I see one.
   
   
   
2. Ed Hardy and Affliction T-shirts – I might never want to go back to Vegas just for that one reason. Those stupid shirts are everywhere and I can’t believe anyone would wear that crap and pay that much money for that garbage. Those shirts are not a good style and they are actually a very easy way to tell the world that you are a douchbag.
   
3. Crocs – Seriously, what the fuck. They’re ok for kids, I get that. But if you are an adult wearing those things, you’ve told the world that you’ve given up.

And actually it’s not just limited to products, Satan has also created people that are just wrong and need to go away. I’m talking about you Lindsay Lohan, Jon Gosselin, Spencer and Heidi, Larry the Cable Guy, Rosie O’Donnell, and John Mayer.

Feel free to add to the list of Satan’s products/people.

Tags: people, popular, products, trends
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous, Style, Water Cooler | No Comments »