The New York Post has written a comprehensive piece on Johnny Depp, how cool he is, and how cool you can be. The article features some of our learnings on cool. It is obviously written to partly promote his new feature film - and bless the Post for doing their bit to promote it.
If you're interested in Johnny Depp you'll be interested in the article - if you're not you wont. If you want to measure your own coolness use our Facebook App. In a world where everyone is getting their 15 minutes of fame it's interesting how people such as Depp can be enduring aspirational figures to so many. Understanding enduring popularity (through cool or otherwise) is something that most brand owners should be interested in, as it's what, in many cases they are trying to achieve.
10 comments:
Here's a thought, one I haven't really thought too hard about (and I'm not sure I understand it or believe in it, but I'll give it a go): does 'Cool' really matter? Or does it even exist?
Have a look around. Have look at the successful people you know (outside film and music... where cool exists but could be a contrivance?). How many of them are cool?
Have a look at business leaders, at Politicians (successful?!?), at leaders of countries, at anyone in the Public eye. I've had a look and found... erm... not many (outside the media industry and the creative department).
Now I could just be seriously uncool. And of course you may be way cooler in Aus. But who's cool in the Cricket Team, (Punter isn't that cool) Football Team etc?
David Beckham certainly isn't cool. Is anyone in Tennis?
How many of your mates are really cool? How about Women? Are they cool? What about people you suspect think themselves 'cool', do you like them? Might they be trying a little too hard?
I saw a programme on the NASA astronauts who walked on the moon (now they should be coolest of cool) and the test pilots that proceeded them (uber-cool). I was impressed at how nurdish they were!
Obama is cool right?
Not to those who really know him; his wife and family don't think so, nor do many of his staff. (perhaps they know him too well). But he came across as so cool ... did someone create it? Are we being Spun 'Cool'?
Was Elvis cool? We certainly think so, but i don't recall a run on StarSpangled jumpsuits in the 80's.
The Boss is brilliant, but not cool. Dylan? Cool or just brilliant?
Mandela is many things... but I wouldn't say he's cool. Love him though I do.
And here's the thing.
Cool exists in Hollywood, in the Music industry... and in our minds. Is it a perception: or is it real?
McQueen and Newman were cool, as was James Dean... but was this real or was it an image created by others?
Is 'Cool' a contrivance? Or a construct (as brands are constructs).
Is the Snark a Boojum?
As I say I really don't know
Apple and iPod are cool. But they're constructs.
OK I'll shut up :)
jemster,
Your post reminded me of Marty Neumeier's definition of a brand - a gut feeling that's shared by a large enough group of people. If you or your brand are cool, it's because enough other people have decided that you're cool.
Obama became cool because enough people decided he was cool. Beckham is no longer cool because enough people have decided he's over the hill and getting paid too much.
A corollary is that cool is not a fixed attribute. It shifts and changes. It also depends on the frame of reference. I think my guitar teacher is pretty cool, and most of my guitar class mates probably agree, but he's not cool outside of the music school we attend.
Going back to the NY Post article, I remembered a couple of scenes in the movie Almost Famous, where Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Lester Bangs, talks about the virtue of being uncool. If you're too worried about being cool, like the band in the movie, you wind up acting in ways that are uncool.
Really wanting to be cool makes it much harder to actually be cool. Coolness can itself become a convention, which is at odds with Mr. Ferrier's second rule of coolness - defying convention. I doubt Johnny Depp gives a crap about being cool, which is part of what makes him cool. And I doubt the folks at Apple are worried about being cool; they're worried about making the most elegant electronics possible. And that makes the brand cool to enough people.
Cheers alafond
So is cool a trait or an attribute (in the sense that we attribute it to people or things)?
My feeling is the latter. We contruct 'cool' the way we construct brands (as you say).
The snark is a boojam you see.
Guys we did our research to find out what makes people cool. We boiled it down to teh 5 factors. We also found that things are not cool unless used by cool people. Coool people deemed them to be cool. When does a pub / club / hotel stop being cool - when cool people stop going.
"We boiled it down to 5 factors"
as did Lewis Carol
"Come, listen, my men, while I tell you again
The five unmistakable marks
By which you may know, wheresoever you go,
The warranted genuine Snarks"
In the end it doesn't matter that much whether cool is real or a construct, we deal with it the same way.
The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, buy accutane precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects.9 Million to Three Patients Whose
Well what can I say, people it's like that... monkey see, monkey do, good luck.
I read really much helpful information here!
Johnny Depp is a fabulous actor, and he could be arrogant because he has a lot of women following all his moves... However he is different and has tried to make grow his career up, and that's why people love him.
Post a Comment