gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

tom in new york

News on the English Cut front:

[REMINDER:] Tom will be in New York next week from Thursday to Sunday, if anyone fancies a suit. Just arrange to meet him at The Hotel Benjamin on 50th & Lexington.

[PERSONAL OBSERVATION:] I think hanging round Savile Row waiting for potential clients to visit London is a big energy waster. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in New York. The after that, we have Paris on the 25th. After that, we work on Moscow, Dubai, and Milan.

U.S. West Coast? I know you could argue that part of the world is mostly Business Casual, but we're not doing "mostly". We're doing hardcore niche. We only realistically need around ten good clients in any market to make it sustainable. Ten Californians out of thirty million. Ten Italians out of forty million, that kind of thing.

This is what creating a global microbrand is all about. Making and selling a world-class product that travels well.

the short tail

t-shirt update:

The t-shirt deal is moving ahead. The e-commerce website should be up by early next week, fingers crossed.

As I said before, each design will be limited to an edition of 200. That's it. No more. Once they're gone, they're gone.

I shall start with four designs, the "Hughtrain/Infinite" design above, the "Good for you" design and two others. As soon as one sells out, I'll introduce another. But there won't ever be more than 4 designs, 200 of each, available at one time.

If you want to collect them all, there will be a subscription service, which automatically charges your credit card and sends you a new shirt, when they become available. Yes, you will be able to unsubscribe at any time.

Each one will come with a wee printed card, with the limited edition number hand-written on it.

I think they might become quite collectable, in their own little way. I certainly have no wish to flood the market with them.

"i'd rather be real than great"

Good point from Evelyn Rodriguez:

I'd rather be real than great. I have never gained anything I truly wanted from a pure pursuit of greatness. I'm not saying these two are mutually exclusive, but the focus can lead one astray. Nothing kills relationships - personal and professional - quicker than when I stop being real. It's costly in the tangible cash realm too.

hong kong's biggest tailor

Hong Kong's biggest tailor is now selling 1,000 suits a week in the UK. Wonderful business model. From the BBC:

Even more luckily, Mr Daswani's main competitors - the venerable names of Savile Row and Jermyn Street - seem oddly hamstrung.

Quite apart from price, Mr Daswani says, they have a lot to learn about customer satisfaction.

"They try to tell the customer what to wear," he says.

"But we'll make anything you want, any way you want; we're not proud."

Mr Daswani's more democratic approach, he feels, has helped bring made-to-measure tailoring to a wider audience.

City boys and politicians - including, it is rumoured, Tony Blair - still make up the bulk of his clientele, but a growing percentage are twentysomethings on moderate incomes.

I think the journalist who wrote the article is a wee bit under-informed. I don't think Mr Deswani is going after Poole's and Huntsman's and Anderson & Sheppard's business. Looks to me like he's going after these guys and these guys, and the more upmarket ready-to-wear boys.

[NOTE TO SELF:] Time to raise prices again. Ker. Chiiing.

greatness

From Digtank:

From the very early days of school, to the upper echelons of business, it's always about focusing on improving our weak points. Rarely is it about celebrating that which makes us great.

Yes. I did say "Great". Greatness exists in most of us. And a person who doesn't believe that shouldn't be in buisness.

If all you care about with your people is their weak spots, you will have a weak company. Forever. Lucky you.

We mustn't have that. As soon as you start using words like that to talk about people- greatness, exceptional, remarkable etc- you start attracting the "Don't-be-so-judgemental-what-might-be-great-to-you-might-not-be-so-great-to-somebody-else-because-everybody's-special-even-if-society-doesn't-value-them-in-monetary-terms" crowd.

I had a bit of a run-in with them last August. It still amuses me to think about it.

savile row pic

Here's a picture of Savile Row I found on Google.

This is taken from the North end, looking South. This is pretty much it. You can see it end there at the bottom, at Vigo Street.

On the right you can see the corner stone archway of Anderson & Sheppard, Thomas' old employer. Last month they moved their store one block West, on to Cork Street.

I think the demolition mob's already moved in this week sometime and we'll have new, shiny offfice buildings in no time. Progress, there's no stopping it etc.

Funnily enough, this picture seems to have been taken right on the doorstp of Number 20, Welsh & Jeffries, where Thomas has his offices. It's a FANTASTIC little tailors shop. Their lease runs out as well in about a year, so doubtless we'll have EVEN MORE fun, shiny new offices to gawk at.

In Central London, a lot of the land isn't actually for sale, you just buy 100-year leases off the Duke of Westminster, or whatever. Anderson & Sheppard opened in 1906; I'm guessing their 100-year lease just ran out, hence the bulldozers moving in.

It always surprises me just how tiny Savile Row is, when you consider all the stories that come out of it.

Though it's sad Anderson's is being moved of the Row, it's actually good for Thomas' business. If Anderson's can move off the Row and still be considered "Savile Row", then hell yeah, so can Thomas.

beyond "beyond lame".

As if fake blogs weren't "beyond lame" enough.

Now I think we've got... wait for it... fake comments.

You can think they're real if you want. Something tells me they're not. I dunno, they're all too "on message" or something.

Also, their huge quantities seems rather unlikely.

What a great scenario: Some twentysomething PR intern being told to write that crap hour after hour, from some gasket-popping "Creative" Director about to lose his job. Hysterical.

the "beyond lame" award (cont.)

Too funny. From a commenter over at BL Ochmann's:

In the last two weeks I have been speaking to a (private, not company) blogger who works for Diageo, bemoaning the fact that their ad agencies are preparing fake blogs and have no clue about what blogging is. I also spoke to a creative from a big ad agency that is creating such faux blogs asking for advice. I guess we knew it was coming, brace yerself and hope that'll get what they deserve from the blogosphere.

If you see something advertising or marketing-related that qualifies as "Beyond Lame", please send me a link. No, it doesn't necessarily have to be a blog or blog-related.

If I have enough links, then I might consider upgrading the award to daily or semi-daily. Too early to tell. Watch this space.

Time these people learned how to talk to people properly.

i can't dump him

googlejuice tailor

A friend of mine rheotorically asked me the other day,

"If you have the best tailor in the world but he isn't on Google, does it matter?"

I am happy to report that English Cut's Googlejuice seems to be kicking in. I'm watching the rankings like a hawk. Every day, it creeps up a little.

Google has been the central marketing question since Day One of Thomas and I working together- how the heck do we get English Cut higher Google rankings?

The answer, of course, is by frequently updating the blog. The more you update, be it a blog or a conventional website, the higher your Googlejuice. Blogs are far easier to update than conventional websites.

Anybody who wants to stay in business should want Googlejuice. It's a no-brainer.

Anybody who wants Googlejuice should have a blog. It's a no-brainer.

The other good news is that all tha tailors on Savile Row are now talking about Thomas and English Cut. The Row is awash with rumor and gossip.

We like that. If the tailors are talking about you, the customers will soon be talking as well. Again, it's a no-brainer.

scottish blog designers wanted

I'm looking for some Scottish blog designers.

Designers who (A) "get it" (B) are relatively tech-savvy across the platforms, especially MT and Typepad and (C) have some basic kudos in the graphic design department.

Being Cluetrain and Hughtrain savvy is a definite plus.

Ideally you're based in Edinbugh, but not the end of the world if you're not.

There looks like there may be a lot of design work about to hit Edinburgh in the next few months, possibly. Perhaps we can help each other out. Just drop me an e-mail.

If you know anyone, please send them the permalink to this post. Thanks.

DRM tip

In the comments of Cardboard Spaceship:

"Hamish: Make sure to KEEP posting on this DRM stuff. Yours is probably the most lucid stuff I am reading on the web on this at the mo. Well done."

-Freddie Daniells

the "beyond lame" award

The "Beyond Lame" Award of The Week goes to... wait for it...

Hey, guess what, Cool Young Adults? The Captain (of Captain Morgan Rum fame) has started a blog!

Nothing like dropping the name of a fake blog with your Cool Young Adult Friends to increase the ol' batting average with the ladies, ya know?

To find out how this blog came into existence, please refer to the cartoon above.

Yet another post-Cluetrain suicide pact between client and agency. Always a joy to behold.

[UPDATE:] Robert Scoble joins in the Captain Morgan conversation:

No comments? Lame. That tells us you don't think we're important enough to listen to. No RSS? Lame. That tells us you don't want connectors/sneezers/influentials to talk about you and you don't want anyone to have a relationship with you on THEIR TERMS. No real human author? That tells us that you aren't passionate or authoritative about your product and you aren't willing to get over your fear of talking with real customers.

"I've spent x-million dollars, Dammit, I am entitled to x-million people's undivided attention."

And when they don't get it, they blame the agency. And the agency willingly risks taking the rap in exchange for access to all that client money.

This is what often makes advertising folk so (a) arrogant and (b) paranoid. It's an unhealthy combo.

no, it's not alright

the coolest blog

Somebody was asking me the other day what I thought the coolest blog of all time was.

Hard to be objective, of course, but I would say this one.

The person who wrote it has since gone off to do other things, but in its day, it was the bomb.

dave parmet

Being the ex-New Yorker that I am, somewhere along the line I decided that I needed to be in New York more often, schmoozing the usual East Coast media suspects about how great English Cut was.

But New York is an expensive business, and I'm not really that well suited to big-city life, nor talking to Big Media, so...

Anyway, a solution came around quite by accident.

A frequent visitor to gapingvoid, New York PR executive Dave Parmet, was laid off from his job about 6 weeks ago. So I blogged about it. "Somebody Hire Dave, Dammit!" He would have done the same for me, so why not?

And his manners being impeccable (Good job, Dave's Mom!), he e-mailed me back to say thanks. And I e-mailed him back, saying 'No problem'.

As one does.

So after that we bounced a few e-mails back and forth, till this one time I just asked him out of the blue if he would fancy trying his hand at generating PR for English Cut.

He e-mailed me back, saying, hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm.... he was very tempted, as he had always had a thing for Savile Row suits, ever since he first saw Brian Ferry wearing them on the MTV videos of his yourh.

So I e-mailed him back, saying, "Funny you should say that. Thomas [the tailor behind English Cut] used to cut for Brian Ferry."

Boom!

Since then he's been on the English Cut team.

Some people might think that English Cut's sudden rise was driven mainly through my blogging about it, and of course, Thomas having a great blog in the first place about a world-class product people actually wanted to buy, using real money.

Well, part of that is true. But a big part of it was also David relentlessly doing his thing on the New York side. This is especially true when we're talking about getting on the radar of the big media folk, of which I will talk about later, once the stories become "official".

So when Thomas gets to New York in April to measure up his clients (most of them new ones, I might add), one of the guys he will be measuring a suit for will be David Parmet, in return for being such an excellent New York PR guy.

Besides what he's done for English Cut, he's got some really interesting Cluetrain-savvy ideas about PR. A lot of people in his industry are scared of his ideas. As they should be.

her apartment

all bow to the master

Best thing of Seth Godin's I've ever read. And that's saying a lot.

flash

you poor bastard

[NOTE TO SELF:]

Happy in your work again. Making money again. Opening up to the world again.

Time for ol' Hughie to hit the dating scene again, you poor bastard.

Thinking: Female, thirtysomething-ish, based in UK, maybe London, maybe Paris. Brains and a massive sense of humor would be pretty frickin' essential. Preferably somebody rather sensible and non-psycho, who enjoys her peace and quiet. Somebody who likes classical music, Cumbria etc.

I'd wait till after you have some photos of yourself in your new Savile Row suit before posting any new pics. Meantime those rather unflattering ones from last year will have to do.

Maybe you should blog this.

heart on sleeve

business porn

I first heard the brilliant term "Real Estate Porn" when reading Gawker a few years ago. Basically, imagine a young, married Brooklyn couple reading through the property section of The New York Times, and you can just imagine, it would not be unlike college boys drooling over a copy of Penthouse.

So me and another friend were talking earlier this week about how totally obsessed thirtysomething guys like us get with "Business Porn".

Business Porn is just like Ordinary Porn or Real Estate Porn, except instead of it being about the women we wished we could sleep with, or the houses we wish we owned, it's about all those cool, lucrative, exciting jobs and businesses that we wish we had, instead of the normal, tedious, schleppy crap most of us end up doing to pay the bills.

You know, those kind of gigs that allow us access to the hot women and the nice houses.

All three are somewhat connected, if you're a guy.

nice one, tony

From Tony Goodson:

I'll keep saying it until I sound like Tom Peters!

China, and India, and Korea, and Brazil, and Russia are looking on, and will kill any company that tries to be a "they". Because "they" will be better and less expensive.

Gieves & Hawkes, another great stalwart of the Row, is forever trying to milk its Savile-Rowieness in order to sell more lines of manufactured pret-a-porter to the tourists.

In other words, they're trying to beat the big labels (and, if you will, the Chinese manufacturers) at their own game. They will lose.

What matters on Savile Row is the tailors of the hardcore variety. So what really matters, long term, is finding and training decent apprentices.

Savile Row: Forget the big labels. Forget the Chinese. Worry about who's teaching your apprentices.

That's our long-term plan with English Cut.

fred wilson is a genius

Fred Wilson wrote the best thing I've read in weeks:

Apple Becomes a "They" Company

There is this concept of "we companies" and "they companies". I don't know where it comes from. If you do, I'd love to know.

Anyway, "We" companies are built by and for a community of users. Everything (including profits) flows from this core value of serving the users. We companies and their profitability are incredibly sustainable.

"They" companies are traditional companies that seek to optimize profitability at the expense of everything else. These businsses are not sustainable and they tend to overreach and ultimately end up in a long and steady decline.

Microsoft is the poster child for a "they" company.

Craigs List is the poster child for a "we" company.

Apple used to be a "we" company. I love Apple as I've blogged about many times. I still do. But Apple is not a "we" company any more.

We vs They. You got it. Understand this, and then maybe you start understanding why The Cluetrain is so important.

As Tony Goodson so wonderfully wrote, some months back:

Cluetrain feels like ours. LoveMarks feels like theirs.

Why are the battle lines being drawn for Cluetrain v LoveMarks?
Isn't LoveMarks trying to say the same thing?
What is it about LoveMarks that's winding some of us up so much?
Is it Kevin's voice in the book and on the website?
Is it that there's an inconsistency and contradiction in parts of the book?
Why does our gut feel tell us that there's something missing or wrong?

somebody asked me to comment on their parody site

> not bad. seen better. the thing is, YOU KNOW it's a parody site when
> you read it. I would've made it a so nobody would guess it was a
> parody unless they dug deeper.
>
> I call this "not flinching". Seems to me, you flinched.

[SUGGESTION:] This, however, in my opinion is the best parody site ever created. Absolute genius.

extra extra read all about it.

SOMEBODY HIRE PIERS:

PSFK founder, Piers Fawkes, is looking for some new challenges. Need a little advice? A whisper in the ear? A hint? A suggestion? A full blown plan? With over 13 years experience, Piers has developed innovative brand and marketing strategies with some of the world's leading brands (and their agencies) and now he's looking to hold the hands of a few more.

travelling tailors

[I wrote/drew this one on a Metro ticket when I was last in Paris.]

Like I said earlier, Thomas and I shall be in Paris on Monday, April 25th. Actually, it'll be part of a longer, Saturday-to-Tuesday visit.

Some Parisian Savile Row customers have decided they like English Cut; we're going there to meet with them.

The Parisian market for Salvile Row is actually rather large, and much of it untapped. So the official plan is for both Tom and I to visit there once a month from now on.

Paris. Selling Savile Row suits. Once a month.

Yes, I am excited. Who wouldn't be?

Here's our basic travelling plan:

Already Developed:

London. Once every 7-14 days, depending on the business.
Paris. Once a month.
New York. Once every 3 months.

Under Development:

Moscow. Once every 3 months.
Dubai. Twice a year.
Asia. Hong Kong and/or Tokyo. Twice a year.
Milan. Twice a year. Huge market.

marketing lesson

Nice little marketing lesson from English Cut.

You want people to take you seriously? Recommend your competition.

if my apartment

e-mail exchange with seth godin

I recently e-mailed Seth Godin some questions regarding his terrific new book, "All Marketers are Liars", and he kindly wrote back with some answers.

HUGH [italics]: 1. You're most famous for "The Purple Cow". Purple cows are cute. Then you had "The Free Prize". Free prizes are cute. Before those two you had "The Idea Virus". Maybe not quite so cute, but still, pretty nifty sounding. But in your latest book, you have "The Lie". Lies are neither cute or nifty. Did your editors have a problem with this?

SETH [no italics]: They did! So did the salesforce at the publisher. But I persisted.

There's HUGE inertia at most every company to do the safe thing, not the remarkable thing.

So far, it appears that I'm right. My readers "get it." They're quite intelligent folks, actually.

2. The word I associate with you the most is "Remarkable". In "Lies", you seem to be telling people, "Look, if your product cannot generate a remarkable story, then Q.E.D., quod erat demonstrandum, the product is not, by definition, remarkable".

Actually, the most common word is "bald" followed by "slightly annoying" (which is two words, but who's counting.)

Yes, you got my point re. 'Remarkable' spot on.

I can see a possible cause of contention where people who buy your books or attend your seminars erroneously thinking, "Gee, maybe if I give Seth some money, my product will somehow end up less unremarkable than it currently is."

Except I rarely do seminars, which aren't particularly profitable anyway. I want them (the reader) to figure out how to be remarkable, not for me to do it for them.

And I can see you answering back, "This has nothing to do with me; make your product more remarkable and more people will remark on it more often. Deal with it."

That sounds like me.

Do you ever get asked to wave a magic wand, even though you have never made any claims to be a magician? And when you tell your potential clients/readers that you possess no magic, do they ever get upset/disappointed?

More like the heartbreak of psoriasis than upset. I'm pretty upfront about this, so so far, no real meltdowns.

3. A friend of mine, Jamie Fleming writes fiction [His uncle, Ian also wrote some fiction, about a British spy or whatever]. Jamie's great line that I always remember is "Nonfiction doesn't exist".

Or, as my tenth grade art teacher once told me, "All art is a lie". ("Ceci n'est pas un pipe" etc, "The map is not the terrain" etc)... The story about the product is not the actual product. But if you can believe "The Lie", then oh yes it is.

YES!

This is roughly how I interpreted your definition of "The Lie". And this allows you to contentiously name your book "All Marketers Are Liars", which probably means more sales than if you'd named your book "All Marketers Are Storytellers". And since you're in the business of telling people how to sell and being remarkable, to not do something remarkable to increase sales would not be good for "Brand Seth".

"Purple Cow" is a great metaphor "Free Prize" is a great metaphor. "Idea Virus" is a great metaphor. I think "The Lie" is also a great metaphor, the observation it makes is brilliant, but equally I can see your average marketing professional getting all snitty about it.

I hope so.

"That man just called me a liar! How dare he think that when I tell the world that my value mouthwash has all the great, fresh, minty taste they crave at only half the price of the leading brand, I am somehow lying! I am not pleased! I am angry and I demand justice!" etc etc etc.

Where do you think your ideas are aligned with mainstream, corporate, MBA-inspired marketing, and where do you see yourself parting company?

Oh, I parted company with these guys on September 12th, 1982 when they almost threw me out of my first class at the Stanford Business School. Every word you just said was true (if anything can be true). By the way, I think I once saw a movie about a book from your friend's uncle.

What a cool thing to have an uncle like that. My uncle is a lawyer.

I part company with marketers at the selfish part. Marketers are selfish, because they think they can get people to pay attention just by buying media or shelf space.

5. How has "Brand Seth" evolved/changed/mutated over the last 5-10 years? What are you happiest about? Unhappiest about? What concerns you/excites you the most about "Brand Seth" and its future path?

I think the brand has evolved a great deal. I'm a lot more mature and a little bit more confident and less manic. I also see a bit more of the bigger picture.

My big concern is that I have no ideas left at all, and I'm just retreading the most recent book until something comes to me. Which it usually does, but still... That, and I wish I could get the people playing at safe at the big brands and in some of the political parties to take a deep breath and do something while there's still time.

I also believe wholeheartedly that it's all marketing (politics, jobs, etc.) but sometimes my readers hesitate to go there.

6. Who's your tailor?

I had this Italian guy named Giorgio, but I'm scouting for a new one. Suggestions?

"bespoke weekend"

Just got a quite interesting e-mail:

Hi Hugh,

I prodded Beppo at the Isle of Eriska hotel into blogging last time I stayed.

He's got it off the ground and I wondered if he could swap links with your friend Tom. The two of them could work out a very appealing package - a couple of nights in a five star hotel on a Scottish island combined with cloth-choosing, measuring up etc for a fine English bespoke Savile Row suit. I'd go for it (if I had the cash).

Hell, I'd blog it.

Cheers,

Neil

I think it's a great idea. Don't you?

As I've said earlier, I'd be really interested in developing this side of the business.

Travelling round the world, staying in luxury hotels, giving the full-on "Bespoke Weekend" treatment to their best customers. I pretty much know who are the best tailors on Savile Row [in fact, here they are], and none of them are really doing it.

If anybody has any contacts in the luxury hotel business, please, Tom and I do want to talk to them. Please show them this page, and perhaps also the link to English Cut. Thanks.

Probably best to e-mail Tom or me here: info AT thomasmahon.co.uk

[PS: The hotel URL is http://www.isleoferiska.com if that helps.]

required reading

If you're in the marketing business, you could say there's a list of marketing bloggers that anybody who really knows what's going on would safely call "Required Reading".

Robert Scoble. Check.

Doc Searls. Of course.

Seth Godin. Yep.

Evelyn Rodriguez. If you worked for me, and didn't read her often, I would fire you.

Jeff Jarvis. Not really a marketing blogger, he's more interested in Media and politics, but anything worth talking about in the blogosphere rarely escapes his attention.

And there are others, too many to mention. If this space interests you, your list probably wouldn't be that different than mine.

One person who probably isn't on the macro Marketing "Required Reading" list, but I think should be, is London-based Johnnie Moore.

He's what I would call a "quiet" blogger. His stuff may not blow you away on first reading, but after a while it starts sinking in, in a really resonant way. Great stuff. Hope he keeps at it.

"living vicariously through my future self"

We all have dreams. I've had plenty over the years.

Getting my cartoons published one day. Getting my book published one day. Landing an advertising job that didn't totally suck one day. Moving to New York one day. Moving back to New York one day. Getting my name mentioned on X's blog one day...

One day. It's always "One day". My term for it is "Living vicariously through my Future Self".

It's funny how the dreams are all now fading for me, but in a good way.

: My cartoons are now "well known" enough. I'm perfectly happy with the size of my audience. Not too big, not to small. And a large chunk of them (you) seem to be kind, smart, thoughtful, interesting people, which is even more gratifying.

And yes, I'm generally happy with the overall quality of the work. It's about as good as somebody with such third-rate writing and drawing talent as myself could ever hope to expect. Plus I never had to sell out, nor did I ever have to starve to death.

: The bloggers I admire the most, some well-known, some obscure, I link to them, and they link back to me for the most part. According to Technorati, my links ranking puts me well in the Top 300, out of eight million blogs. So traffic isn't exactly a problem.

: The advertising industry to me is irrelevant. Very little in that industry I find even remotely interesting, let alone intellectually honest. Right now I have four advertising projects on the go (five if you include English Cut), but I'm not seeking out more work in this area. I've written the Hughtrain. I said what I wanted to say, and have since moved on.

: New York is far too expensive and over-the-top for a tight Highlander Scots bastard like me.

: The books, the t-shirts etc... they're fun, but none of it's a money gig. I'm primarily doing it because my readers asked me to. The people who want them will buy them, and that's absolutely wonderful, but I'm not bothered about the people who don't. Trust me, in terms of time, stress and effort, it's a lot easier selling $4000 worth of bespoke suits than selling $4000 worth of t-shirts or blogcards.

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

All these dreams seem to have been replaced by the singular, simple wish to see "I'm interested in buying a suit" sitting in the English Cut e-mail inbox when Tom or I check it in the morning.

And that's not something you really dream about. It's either sitting in the inbox or it isn't. Dreaming has nothing to do with it.

It's real.

in paris april 25th

Thomas and I will be in Paris on April 25th for the big blog confab at the Senat, organised by Loic.

This will be cool because:

1. A lot of people will be there I've been wanting to meet for a long time. And some folk I already know who I'm always glad to see.

2. Loic's asked me to draw cartoons live during the talks, projecting them onto the wall behind the speakers, using some sort of projector gizmo thingie.

3. Thomas and I shall be wearing our Savile Row suits.

Should be a fun weekend.

i've started blogging

history of english cut

[UPDATE: Big Kudo's to Rober Scoble for linking to English Cut. Thanks, Robert!]

With all the English Cut business going crazy at the moment, it suddenly made me think of all the feedback I received about the idea of a blogging tailor, before I had convinced Thomas to start a blog, when I first broached the subject with my readers here and here:

"It seems to me that a blog is pretty inappropriate as a website for a tailor. Perhaps it's appropriate to use a blog engine to maintain his website, which will make it easier for him to maintain the content, but I fail to see why a tailor would want to keep an online diary as the online face of his business."

"I guess what I'm afraid of is that we're talking about a small niche market. Lots of people online like to talk about computers, gadgets, movies, and all kinds of things. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't imagine that too many people have much to say about suits (as nice as they are, and as much as I'd like to be able to afford one)... If Tom starts a blog, and there's no conversation, that's going to look kinda silly. Wouldn't that be detrimental to business?"

"I don't hear that many people talking about suits, especially online, and I'm don't believe that starting a blog about suits will change that."

"People like Tom need a blog as much as a fish needs a bicycle... The typical Saville Row customer is not a blog reader. He, in all likelyhood, doesn't even know what a blog is. And even if he'd knew, why read about what one's tailor has to say? He's there to make suits, as long as he does that well he'll have a market... Tom needs to offer superior service and style to a market that tends to be extremely loyal to 'their' taylor, once that relationship has been built."

"Directing a conversation with your customer base is a great idea. Assuming people fly to London to buy a hand tailored suit because they want to intimidate their beta male counterparts is silly... 90% of the suits on Savile Row are good enough for the most discriminating buyer. Its the buying experience that will make one tailor more successful than another."

"A blogging tailor is not what is needed, however the concept of being the subject of conversation is. I'd have thought that, with Savile Row tailors and that ilk, word of mouth is the key in the bespoke suit buying Alpha-male market. I just don't think that blogging is the be-all answer to that."

So Robert, what did they say to you when you said you were going to start blogging about Microsoft from the inside?

all marketers are liars

Seth Godin, my favorite marketing writer kindly sent me an advance copy of his new book, All Marketers Are Liars. Just finished reading it.

Well, what can I say? If you like his blog, then you'll like this book.

The thing I like about Seth's writing is his ability to make things appear so obvious that you end up believeing you knew it already.

There's one sentence on Page One:

"Either you're going to tell stories that spread, or you'll become irrelevant."

But hey, I just told you the line, so now you can save yourself twenty bucks, right? Wrong. You need to read the whole thing to understand exactly what he's talking about. For it to really sink in.

The point of the book is not that all marketers are all liars, but that they're storytellers. Their job is to make up stories good enough to where the buyers no longer care that they're complicit in believing them- i.e. we believe the lie. We know Apple won't turn us into rock stars, we know Harley Davidson isn't going to free us from our dreary jobs. But we like the story anyway. We believe the lie, and it's the story that gives us permission to do so.

The thing about Seth that some people find quite intimidating is that he offers the reader nowhere to hide. He doesn't write books about "How to sell your crap-ass product for more money." He challenges you. Everything he writes invariably asks the question, "Why waste your time selling crap-ass products?"

Why waste your time trying to sell something you can't tell a good story about?

maybe if

the tao of undersupply

The t-shirt thing is coming together nicely. Planning on launching circa first week in April.

Talking to my manufacturer- a very smart fellow- about business issues in general.

We both concur that the biggest problem in the Western world is oversupply.

For every mid-level managing job opening up, there's scores of people willing and able. For every company needing to hire an ad agency or design firm, there's dozens out there, willing and able. For every person wanting to buy a new car, there's tons of car makers and dealers out there. I could go on and on.

I could also go on about how many good people I know are caught in oversupplied markets, and how every day they wake up, feeling chilled to the bone with dread and unease. Advertising and media folk are classic examples.

So maybe the thing is to is get into "The Tao of Undersupply".

If only 100 people want to buy your widgets, then just make 90 widgets. If only 1000, make 900. If only 10 million, make 9 million. It isn't rocket science, but it takes discipline.

It also requires you to stop making the same stuff as other people. Doing that requires originality and invention.

Like it said in "How To Be Creative", don't try to stand out from the crowd, avoid crowds altogether. Again, it isn't rocket science.

That why all the t-shirts will be limited edition. Actually, I think everything I make from now on will be limited edition in one way or another.

What about your stuff?

"it's like watching the buggy whip industry getting a whip made mandatory for every car"

Brilliant article from Hamish:

Would You Like to Buy A Soviet Photocopier, Tsovarich?

Want something that even Stalin wouldn’t have dreamed about? Let corporate interests decide what you can and cannot do on equipment you own? Your PC is about to become the ultimate Soviet Photocopier, that will only allow you approved thoughts and actions. Yep! Sounds like tin foil hat time, but let’s look at it again, and let’s see how real it is.

...

If you want to see a real closed device, then look at the Sony “MP3” players. These lame brained things wanted to load your MP3s on the computer, and then convert them into ATRAC (?) format. Why? So that you wouldn’t pirate music or something, because they have a music division. Arrgh. Betamax, Mini-Disc, and then ATRAC. Somebody in Sony needs to get the idea that a technically superior standard does not a market make. In surprise and shock at having single-handedly lost the personal music player market that they owned, they recently decided to move to the open standards camp, but guys, weak move and too late. And this has commercial consequences, look at what Samsung has done to them.

what's the sony story?

Good article from The New York Times:

How the iPod Ran Circles Around the Walkman

"SYNERGY AND OTHER LIES" would be a good first reading assignment for Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's new chief executive, to be followed by "The Synergy Myth." Then Sir Howard should recognize that the Sony he inherits is constitutionally incapable of making one (electronics) plus one (entertainment) equal three.

...

Sir Howard now presides over a company that appears - superficially - to be the polar opposite of an ITT-like conglomeration of unrelated businesses. Sony is accustomed to thinking of itself as consisting of two well-matched halves: electronics and entertainment. At the Consumer Electronics Show last month, Sir Howard observed, "A device without content is nothing but scrap metal," a platitude beneath mention - unless, perhaps, one were a mite defensive about owning both a widget factory and an entertainment factory.

So what business are Sony actually in? I'm confused. What's important to them? I have no idea. Do any of them own blogs worth talking about? I don't know of any.

A company doesn't need "synergy". A company needs a cause.

What's the Sony story? They don't seem to have one, except for "We make lots of stuff we want you to buy."

Is that a story they actually want to tell? A story they want to spend x-zillion on advertising in order to get across? Seriously.

But if Sony does indeed have a story, please do let me know what it is. I'm curious now.

hughtrain wine biz

I have started taking an interest in the wine business. Two questions:

1. Can anyone recommend me some good wine blogs worth reading? If so, please leave the URL in the comments.

2. Does anybody fancy writing a Hughtrain-savvy wine blog for a client of mine? If so then please drop me an e-mail. Sure, there could be some money in it.

The blogs I have in mind will, like English Cut aspires to do in its industry, is create the "Smartest Conversation" on the planet about wine and the wine industry, bar none.

I want to kick the wine business in the teeth. So does my client. We're looking for allies.

Any ideas would be most gratefully received.

dear fred...

Let's say your name is Fred. Hi, Fred.

Let's say you're the editor of a very large, well-known London newspaper.

And let's say, not too long ago, you called up my bespoke Savile Row tailor friend, Thomas and booked an appointment because you wanted a new suit.

And let's say Thomas turned up and gave you a measurement.

So let's say you wanted to order two suits, but wanted a deal, in exchange for an interview in your paper.

And let's say Tom decided a bit of exposure would be just the thing to rev up his business, so he agrees. And let's not kid ourselves, it's kinda flattering to be asked. Makes you almost think your big moment is about to arrive.

So let's say the deal ended up being that you ordered a grey suit at full price, but offered to give Tom an interview in the paper you edit, if he threw the second blue suit in for free. Two for the price of one, basically.

So let's say you shake on it, and Tom goes away, and buys the cloth out of his own pocket for the first grey suit, with your blessing, because somehow you have convinced him that you didn't need to leave a deposit yet, what, with this big interview coming up and all.

And then let's say Thomas cuts the cloth, and gets it sewn, ready for your first fitting. Again, all out of his own pocket.

And let's say when all is ready, you keep cancelling meetings with Tom at the last minute, after Tom has already spent half a day driving down to London to meet you at the pre-arranged time. More than once. Again and again. Even your personal assisant is embarrassed by your behavior.

And let's say this keeps on happening till finally, you send Tom a hand-written note saying "Sorry, I've changed my mind... I don't think I want to give you any money, either... but let's talk about doing that interview later on, eh?"

And let's say the reason you gave for changing your mind was beyond lame. Something to do with your needing your girlfriend's permission before deciding on the second blue suit's fabric choice, and because she lives far away she can't come in and meet you two. Even though her input has nothing to do with the grey suit, the one Thomas has already shelled out for in order to get made. Whatver. Like I said, beyond lame.

Now let's say it's a few weeks later, and Tom's new blog is suddenly doing awfully well. And let's say his friend is a pretty well-known blogger, with a pet peeve against asshole big-media types who fuck with honest tradesmen, just because the scumbag thinks because he's got the big editor's job, it's somehow OK.

Don't worry Fred, I'm not going to reveal your real name. I only know one side of the story, maybe there was a misunderstanding, maybe there's some stuff missing from the equation I don't know about, whatever. Maybe Tom was a bit naive to trust you, and maybe he underestimated the corrupting affect that people who offer media favor can have on one's affairs. Education is expensive.

Besides, I know the circulation numbers of your paper. Seems you've already got enough to worry about.

What's more interesting to me is how, with his blog, Tom no longer has to rely on your kind to give his business the publicity impetus it needs in order to remain viable.

A lot of these 'artisan' businesses like Tom's traditionally live or die by whether or not somebody like yourself decides they're worth talking about. You know it, I know it. It's a lot of power in the hands of one person. But it's unreliable. It has always been thus, but since there was nothing else to get the word out with, the artisans could be relied on to play ball, making you look good and showering you with freebies and favors.

But Fred, scumbags like you no longer matter.

Now you're no longer the "Gatekeeper" to the success of the artisan. Hopefully other artisans will spot Tom's blog, and emulate his example.

Another nail in the coffin of scumbag, big-media, freebie-fattened, Gatekeeper culture, and I'm glad to be helping drive it in.

sony and savile row

Sir Howard Stringer is Sony's new CEO. So now we have a Japanese company, run by a New York-based Briton who speaks no Japanese.

Joi Ito posts an open letter to Sir Howard:

I think you understand Sony and have many of the things that Sony needs to become the global company that Mr. Idei wanted it to be. My main concern is that you are quite immersed in the entertainment side of the business and I really believe that Hollywood is taking an unreasonably strong position on the copyright issue and is impinging on the rights of users and amateur creators. In your new role as the head of Sony, I urge you to try to take a more balanced and long-term view on the copyright issues. I suggest you at least listen to the rhetoric of the "other side" and maybe start by reading "The Future of Ideas" by Lawrence Lessig.

Anyone in the business of selling paid content is in an industry where methods to get people like me spending money are going to be at best, much harder, and at worst, utterly devious and contemptable.

It'll be interesting to see how Sony bridges the gap in the next few years.

Sony and Savile Row actually aren't that different. Neither one can make their product cheaper than their competitors. Both live or die by how seriously they take design.

savile row sewers

London was fun. I was there less than 48 hours, but that was plenty. Got some stuff done, saw a few people, caught the train back.

The highlight of my weekend was the time I spent on Savile Row; seeing it from an informed eye for the very first time. I loved every minute of it.

The funny thing about Savile Row is that yes, there are actual real tailors actually sewing stuff. It's not just retail storefronts.

Walk down the Row and around the back streets. Look in all the basement windows, underneath the stairwells. Guys sewing in little workshops. There they are.

And the thing is; you have to be nice to these folk. If you just sold a couple of suits to Monsiuer Ambassador, once you've designed the pattern and cut the cloth, you need to find a freelance tailor to sew it all together for you.

And he's already busy. He's probably doing you a favor by taking the job on. And dropping Monsieur Ambassador's name won't phase him. He probably was sewing for Monsieur's boss the week before. So everything, and I do mean everything, is fuelled by an interdependant sense of goodwill. Something only given lip service in most organisations.

It's a tight little community. They all know each other, they all rate each other. And news travels fast.

More than once, a tailor approached Tom on the street this weekend, said he'd heard Tom's been busy lately, and handed Tom his phone number.

Happy to sew for you, great news on your website, call me if you need anything etc.

This explains why Tom's site hasn't been updated in almost a week. Yes, he's gotten busy. English Cut is almost working too well. Managing the "increase in demand" has eclipsed "lack of demand" as the biggest business issue in less than two months.

Tom and I are both quite stunned, to be honest.

[ALSO:] English Cut gets a mention in Slate. Very cool.

sunday update (still in london)

Still in London. Was down on Savile Row yesterday. Interesting place. Surprisingly small, perhaps the length of 2-3 New York City blocks.

Got to visit all the places Tom has talked about on English Cut.

Anyway, I'm here till tomorrow.

A few things have developed recently, which means I'm going to be really busy for the next while.

Rock on.

[UPDATE:] Back home. Left London at lunchtime. More later.

in london

I'm in London at the moment. Back this evening. More later...

second thoughts....

OK, having second thoughts.... ermmmmmm...

What "blogging" t-shirt should I debut with?

This one ("Was it good for you?") or this one? ("I'm blogging this")?

Can we please have a concensus?

The other 3 choices I'm fine with.

Thanks.

t-shirt update

These are the four t-shirt designs I plan on debuting with:

1. I'm blogging this.
2. The Market for something to believe in is infinite.
3. XYZ Complete fucking asshole.
4. I can't take this shit anymore.

Unless they're mass howls of protest, that's not a bad start.

Another thought: Though I will start with 200 shirts in a limited edition, I reserve the right to raise or lower that number in future editions, if the demand justifies it. Maybe the "200" number is realistic, maybe it isn't. I'll know more as events unfold, and will keep you updated.

Bu