Marc Ecko: "Skill Sets to Take to the Bank"

The NY Times has a great little business autobiography from Marc Ecko.

Some gems:
"Sometimes kids are interested in stuff like video games that are seen as a pastime, but those pastimes generally have industry behind them. If you look under the hood, you can probably find skill sets to take to the bank..."

"The first five years were like a baptism by fire, to the tune of about $6.5 million in debt. Trying to get back out of that debt and turn the business around was something I couldn’t do today. I don’t have the pain threshold..."

"I have A.D.D., and rather than take drugs to curb it, I just build my world to adapt around it. That’s partly why we’ve branched out into so many different things: clothing, video games, a magazine and other projects..."

"I don’t do it alone. If we went up to the fifth floor of our offices and walked through that bullpen of 40 designers, those are the guys doing the heavy lifting. I look at myself as providing air coverage for the guys on the ground."

Marc Ecko Donates Barry Bonds' Home Run Ball

Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball is headed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown but marked with an asterisk as per the people's demand!

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Tell Marc Ecko What to do With Barry Bonds Home Run Ball

Tell Marc Ecko What to do With Barry Bonds Home Run Ball

On Saturday Marc Ecko snagged Barry Bonds historical home run ball for $752,467 at a Sotheby's/SCP auction.

In a rather cool gesture Ecko is asking fans to decide what to do with this special ball.

Marc Ecko Video Interview at CIT: Behind the Business

Andrew Shapiro Interviews Marc Ecko for CIT, Pt. 1

Conde Nast recently launched Portfolio, a business magazine and website.  Interestingly enough, the site is currently running an advertisement for a videotaped Marc Ecko interview provided by CIT, a financial services company.

CIT: Behind the Business provides over 20 minutes of interview footage with Marc Ecko broken down into segments on such topics as the Power of Networks and Corporate Creativity.  The complete interview is also available as a free downloadable video podcast.

A link to a CIT: Behind the Business branded Eckolog leads to a blog like series of entries from Mark Ecko that will be "updated three times weekly" for an indeterminate period of time.

The Eckolog is hosted at condenet.com so this isn't simply an ad leading offsite but also represents some level of service from Conde Nast.  Sadly, the Eckolog is poorly designed and unlikely to attract readers in its current form, so that's a bad sign for somebody.

Marc Ecko is also described as a client of CIT so this appears to be a really nice example, except for the Eckolog's implementation, of creating content for marketing purposes by featuring an interesting client.

Marc Ecko & Nissan Announce Cross Promotion: SHIFT_unltd.

The *ecko unltd. Nissan Pathfinder

At today's MAGIC apparel trade show Marc Ecko and Nissan announced a promotional partnership featuring two Nissan vehicles custom designed by Ecko and a related website in a collaboration "tagged SHIFT_unltd."

The Cut & Sew Nissan Armada

From the release:
Mr. Ecko will also create limited edition, co-branded hooded jackets, woven button-downs, t-shirts, leather key chains and other items that will be given away at events and sold online through http://www.nissan.eckounltd.com/. Proceeds from these sales will benefit Sweat Equity Enterprises, a nonprofit organization that empowers young people to learn professional design and technology skills while working behind the scenes in leading design companies. . .

Following the announcement at MAGIC, there will also be three in-market events in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. In addition to unveiling the customized Nissan vehicles at the New York event, each invite-only affair will feature a Nissan and Marc Ecko fashion show and provide consumers with an urban, red carpet experience.

Seems like a smart move for Nissan that should result in decent press coverage.

And Ecko has certainly shown via the wide range of promotional activities for his videogame, Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, that he and his people know how to do interesting, fun events.

It's also a smart idea on Ecko's part to name each of the unique vehicles in relationship to his own *ecko_unltd. and Cut & Sew brands.

As the SHIFT_unltd. splash page currently attributes to Marc Ecko:

It's not a mash-up.  It's a double-label, Nissan and Marc Ecko.  That's the direction we took, like what you'd see in sneaker culture but elevated to the automobile.  It's cooler than what other automakers might do.

Ecko on Branding:
Here's a brief 2005 interview with Marc Ecko in which he responds to the question, "What's the next big thing?"

Convergence. Blurring lines. Brands existing dynamically in real time in multiple places. And being more purposeful and meaningful than just being a commodity. . . In order for a brand to exist and survive and be relevant you must exist in multiple space. It doesn't mean that you still don't have to have a core competency. You have to really truly be a lifestyle brand. You have to exist in our culture on all levels. Music, movies, video games, cellphones, clothing.

Complete List Of Nominees For MTV's Video Music Awards

MTV has released the complete list of nominees for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

It's a long list in all sorts of categories but I had forgotten that they've added video game categories including Best Video Game Soundtrack for which Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is in competition.

BEST VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK

Final Night Round 3 (Electronic Arts)
Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Games)
Driver: Parallel Lines (Atari)
Marc Ecko's Getting Up (Atari)

Related:
MTV Overdrive to Broadcast Live Behind the Scenes Feed of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards

BBDO West Anti-tagging Campaign Plus More Marc Ecko

I found an interesting followup to my earlier post on Marc Ecko at the quite wonderful Wooster Collective site.  They have more shots of this anti-tagging campaign created by BBDO West.

One thing I didn't point out on the Ecko post, partly because the interview I reference is so short that I would have pretty much run the whole thing at that point, was his explanation that writing on property without permission, i.e. most forms of tagging, was vandalism.  At first, I took it as a disengenous statement but I'm realizing that he's simply playing both sides of the street.  A statement like that backs off outsider critics while offering a wink and a nudge to his insider target audience.

Marc Ecko On Advocating For The Needs Of One's Market

In a brief interview for Wired, Marc Ecko discusses his support of a "suit to quash NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to make it illegal for anyone under 21 to carry broad-tipped markers and aerosol spray paint."

[Wired] Given that both your clothing line and videogame celebrate graffiti culture, some might see your crusade as self-serving.

[Ecko] It’s completely self-serving. There’s nothing hidden about it. Why is it OK for Procter & Gamble, which owns the Pampers brand, to advocate for all things family and baby? I have commercial interests, too. Nike funds an after-school sports program. Is that self-serving?

[Wired] Of course it is.

[Ecko] But it’s also the culture that represents them. It upholds their values, and this upholds mine.

Droga5 Wins Award For Marc Ecko/Air Force One Tagging Video

In all the excitement regarding Marc Ecko's Air Force One tagging video promo, I never heard it was anything other than Marc Ecko putting some money into a nutty idea that blew up.  David Kiley writes that they shared the "top cyber marketing award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival" with that Helga chick Crispin Porter + Bogusky spawned.

'boards has more on the Droga5 story.

Glad to see Droga5 getting that credit.  I had mixed feelings about the campaign but could not deny its effectiveness for putting Ecko in the news.  I have no idea what it did for sales of Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure and I'm not sure how you could decide given the wide range of activities Ecko had going for his game.  But, hey, it won an award and that's what matters!

I'll admit I never checked out any of Helga's online presence that includes both the test drive site Kiley mentions that shared the award and a MySpace page.  She's just not my type.

You can check ProHipHop's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure coverage in the M. Ecko category.

Here's the ad that I think introduced Helga to the world.  As I mentioned at Altered Television, I love this ad for a variety of reasons but feel it's relationship to hip hop is tangential at best.

Marc Ecko Saves Rhinos, Lupe Fiasco Blogs

Marc Ecko has another Save The Rhinos benefit concert coming up (is this the 2nd?).  I think it's one of the cooler branding moves he's made especially since it actually is a benefit for the International Rhino Foundation.

By the way, the Hypebeast post linked above mentioned that Lupe Fiasco has a Hypebeast blog!  Nothing earth shattering but if he makes it and keeps blogging, that could be a very cool thing.

Marc Ecko Wins in New York

Marc Ecko got a legal victory in his fight over NY graffiti laws when "Federal Judge George B. Daniels issued an order blocking the enforcement of the amendments."

Marc Ecko T-shirt: Blame Video Games

The latest Marc Ecko marketing twist is a t-shirt stating Blame Video Games that has appeared on at least one gaming blog already.

Now, who was that talking about idea exhaustion?

Marc Ecko to Sue New York

Marc Ecko will be filing a lawsuit against the Mayor, the City of New York plus assorted other official types.  Similar to his Denver suit, the lawsuit will challenge legal restrictions against the ownership of paint cans and large markers by those under age 21.

Now THAT's serious branding action!

Update: The suit was filed on Tuesday by seven artists with Ecko's backing.

Bloggers on Marc Ecko/Air Force One Promo

Marc Ecko and his Air Force One promo flick are a topic of discussion across the blogosphere.

Search Engine Lowdown presents:
Ecko CEO Graffitis Air Force One: Viral Linkbait Genius

A variety of interesting comments have been posted at the Wooster Collective blog regarding the Air Force One tagging.

Kotaku interviews Marc Ecko about Getting Up and his future plans for more games.

Search IceRocket for more bloggers on Marc Ecko.

Update: Game Politics provides "more".

Hammer of Truth says: Fake but Fantastic

Earlier at ProHipHop:
Marc Ecko/Air Force One Hoax Goes Mainstream
Marc Ecko's Tagging Hoax Sign of Idea Exhaustion

Marc Ecko/Air Force One Hoax Goes Mainstream

I'll try to get another link for this AP report cause it will be gone in a couple of weeks.  [Update: alternate link]

The Marc Ecko video hoax, which I think was called first by Game Politics, has hit the mass media and apparently gained much more credibility than I was willing to concede:

A startling Internet video that shows someone spraying graffiti on President Bush's jet looked so authentic that the Air Force wasn't immediately certain whether the plane had been targeted. . . . The pranksters responsible for the grainy, two-minute Web video — employed by a New York fashion company — revealed Friday how they pulled it off: a rented 747 in California painted to look almost exactly like Air Force One.

Marc Ecko stated:
I wanted to do something culturally significant, wanted to create a real pop-culture moment . . . It's this completely irreverent, over-the-top thing that could really never happen: this five-dollar can of paint putting a pimple on this Goliath.

Apparently the online appearance of the video that included circulation at stayfree.com and at youtube.com got the attention of the U.S. Air Force:
"We're looking at it, too," said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, which operates Air Force One. "It looks very real."

Today Ecko revealed that:
his company had rented a 747 cargo jet at San Bernardino's airport and covertly painted one side to look like Air Force One. Employees signed secrecy agreements and worked inside a giant hangar until the night the video was made. Ecko declined to say how much the stunt cost.

"It's not cheap," he said. "You have to be rich."

Despite my criticisms and due to my critics, I'm appreciating this whole thing more and more.  But I have a greater appreciation for Ecko's other marketing efforts and will do a follow up on the quite significant achievenents of Ecko's Getting Up campaign.

Related coverage:
Marc Ecko's Tagging Hoax Sign of Idea Exhaustion

Search video at YouTube.