Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Brand, Brand Suicide, Cars, Context, Creativity, Culture, Design, Experience, Fashion, Ferrari, Italy, Luxury
I saw this billboard for Ferrari’s clothing and apparel lines … known as Ferrari Style.
And while the design of the billboard isn’t great …
[which is a bit weird for a company that has built part of its distinctiveness through design]
And while it’s a bit strange they are only showing their F1 cars …
[when their luxury status has been informed more by their day-to-day supercars]
At least it’s better than the Micro SD cards they produced years ago, which they sold under the guise of ‘really fast data transfer’.
Or the electric Luce they launched months ago.
And – to be fair – with their heritage, lifestyle and status, they do have a legitimate right to play in this area, but my question is who is going to buy it?
Will it be people who want EVERYONE to know they own a Ferrari?
Will it be people who want everyone to THINK they own a Ferrari?
Will it be people who simply want to LOOK part of the Ferrari lifestyle?
Full disclosure, I own one of their items … but while I really do like the design and the quality is superb, I was given it as a gift because there wouldn’t be a cat-in-hells-chance I’d own it if I had had to pay my own money for it.
I digress …
The point is, given Italy isn’t exactly short of highly respected, highly regarded, highly aspirational luxury fashion brands … who do you think is actually going to buy their products and, even more interestingly, why are they???
Now if only I had a comment section people could write their answers on?!
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Cars, Dad, Emotion, Empathy, Family, Friendship, Love, My Childhood, New York, Paul
So recently I talked about how I was in New York I saw a bunch of things that triggered some deep nostalgia in me.
First was the bank of payphones at JFK airport … but then there were 2 cars.
The first was this bright yellow VW Golf soft-top.
On one level, it stood out simply because it’s bright yellow and it was a super sunny day.
But it was more than that …
Because not only did it seem to encapsulate what I thought America was like – specifically California, based on various TV shows I would watch as a kid – but it reminded me of what Paul’s Mum drove when we were growing up.
OK, so hers was more mustard than yellow, as I remember it.
And it was most definitely not a stop top … not in bloody Nottingham.
But they were the first family I ever knew that had TWO cars and that was the one that would ferry Paul and I to various activities as we grew up … so it is almost entirely associated with positive memories.
Of course, part of the reason my feelings towards this car were so positive is likely because of it’s excellent condition. It meant I didn’t have to face how old it was which meant I just connected to how present and perfect it was.
Which kind-of explains why this other car stopped me in my tracks as I was walking down a backstreet in Chelsea.
That is a Jaguar XJ-S.
Another old car in utterly excellent condition.
At the time it came out, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Sure, now I know it was influenced by their iconic E-Type, but as a kid it was like it had come out of outerspace.
Powerful … sleek … aggressive yet sophisticated. It was a car that was seemingly designed for the rich, famous and fast living, so it was no surprise when Simon Templar – from the British TV show, Return Of The Saint – drove one in every episode.
As a kid, The Saint was cool as fuck.
Sure, 40+ years later I realise he’s basically a Temu-James Bond character … but back then, I wasn’t old enough to watch Bond movies, so The Saint was the closest thing I had to an accessible, real-life-relevant TV/Movie hero.
So you can imagine my glee when my Uncle Andrew turned up at our house one day driving an XJ-S as his new company car. [He was a high-flying sales manager for American Express, which is why he got this beast compared to classic company car of the age, the Ford Escort]
OH MY GOD … it was like a movie star had come to visit us.
But it got even better, because Uncle Andrew said my Dad could take it for a drive …
HOLY FUCK!!!
So even though it was quite late, I was allowed to squeeze in the backseat – while still wearing my pyjamas – while Dad positioned himself in the drivers seat, accompanied by his brother-in-law before we sped off.
And while we were only gone for about 10 minutes, one part of that one-off trip is burned into my memory.
Dad drove us down the ring road and as we approached the roundabout, I remember him saying to Andrew:
“The brakes are a bit spongy”
To which my Uncle leaned over to see the speedo and said,
“That’s because you’re doing 100mph”.
My Dad was both shocked and impressed, whereas I – on the other hand – was in awe, both of the car and my Dad.
ONE HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR.
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE!!!
You have to understand, our family car was – if memory serves me – either a bottom of the range Ford Escort, a bottom of the range Leyland Marina or an absolutely horrific Fiat 128 … or said another way, a car that couldn’t hit 100mph even if you were going down a steep hill with a tail wind behind you and even if it could, it would be so loud and the car so shakey, that your body would be crushed to smithereens before you reached a stop. But here we were, in a car that was not only able to reach ‘rocket speed’, but was able to do it with such smoothness and luxury that you didn’t even realise what was going on. Basically, you imagined it was what Concorde would be like it it had 4 wheels and could go on British roads.
I can’t remember what year this happened but I remember every bit of what happened which is why when I saw that Jaguar XJ-S on the street, it immediately took me back to that night. With my Dad. Sharing a moment neither of us ever had experienced before.
A bonding moment that I treasured then and treasure even more now.
Which is why – whoever the owner of that Jag is – thank you. You gave me a chance to have a little road trip with my Dad in NYC and I’ll forever be grateful for that.
Filed under: 2026, America, Auckland, Cars, Christmas, Colenso, Comment, Music, Police
Before I start, I got a few emails yesterday telling me they were surprised this blog had restarted on the 12th, when I had previously stated it would be the 19th. I noted they didn’t say they were ‘pleased’ this blog had restarted – but it also shows some people still read it. Or at least pop by to still hate it.
I have no idea why I decided to kick things off a week early other than maybe actually feeling so rested I forgot.
My relaxation is your early 2026 pain. Or something.
Talking of pain …
Full disclosure. I have never had as many speeding tickets in my life, as I have had in NZ.
That is not – contrary to what my colleagues think – because I drive like a lunatic, but because speed cameras in NZ are triggered faster than Trump watching a late night TV show.
Just to reinforce that, I have been driving 39 years and in all that time, I’ve only ever had 2 actual penalties put on my license.
One in 1988, for going 7mph over the limit at 9pm on Loughborough Road in Nottingham.
One in 2025, for going 11kph over the limit at 9pm on the way home from our Christmas party.
Obviously, I have some sort of problem with 9pm.
Anyway, the most recent points on my license was – as I say in the title of this post – because of Kim Wilde.
For those of you who don’t know who she is, she’s a 1980’s British singer.
She comes from a musical family and had a bunch of hits in that decade.
Over the last 20 years, she reinvented herself as somewhat of an expert horticulturalist, albeit coming out to perform the odd show here and there.
Interest in her was reignited a few years ago when – coming back from a Christmas party with her songwriting brother – someone took a video of her singing her biggest hit, Kids In America – while drunk on a train.
And it is this particular song that got me the speeding ticket.
To help explain it, you have to hear it … so this is Kim, back in 1981 singing the song that gave her a career.
Yes, I know it’s 45 years old, but it’s still good … or it is, if you play it VERY, VERY loudly.
And that’s exactly what I was doing driving back from the Colenso Christmas party thanks to a random playlist on Spotify.
It was at that point, I passed a Police car driving the opposite way when suddenly, I saw them pull a u-turn and watch the lights go on.
Could they be on their way to apprehend a serious criminal?
Errrrm, no.
They were on their way to apprehend a man – who had thankfully, changed out of his work Christmas party outfit of festival girlie – driving 11 kmh over the limit while singing an 80’s song at the top of his lungs.
To be fair, it was probably the singing more than the speeding that caused his to stop me … which is why I pulled over immediately and accepted full blame and punishment.
The copper – who seemed to only be about 12 years of age – was so surprised at my eagerness to acknowledge my idiocy that he apologized for giving me a fine and points.
I did consider explaining that it is it humanely impossible to listen to Kids In America quietly and drive slowly … but frankly, it was worth it.
So thank you Kim, for a few minutes you created a time machine and took me back to when I was a boy racer. Albeit more mild, than wild these days.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Cars, Comment, New Zealand
I’ve always found personalized number plates fascinating which is why a while back I wrote about the ones that were near where I live.
Anyway, I recently saw 2 that got me thinking …
The first was this:
There’s something epic having a number plate that turns the ‘horsepower’ conversation into ‘moopower’.
I would love to know what made them choose this.
Are they a dairy farmer?
Are they really into milk?
Are they someone the RSPCA need to be keeping a close eye on?
Not sure, but it stood out to me far more than 95% of creative designed by outsourced research systems that promote ‘brand assets’ but forget to tell people it’s only an asset if creativity makes it mean something.
The other was this …
On one hand, the introduction of the word ‘bad’ immediately has an effect on the car.
Despite being virginal white, suddenly that EV family car has a bit-of-the-badass about it.
Or it would, it the number plate wasn’t ‘BAD EV’ … which suggests the driver is aware of the negative association of the brand given their CEO, Elon, is a right-wing, Fascist prick … and either doesn’t care, or is trying to own the narrative so they can’t let someone else have a go at them.
Unfortunately for them, I don’t think either of those scenarios will work for them given Teresa – in our strat gang at Colenso – has a Tesla and despite every one of us loving her and knowing she feels a bit of the ick for driving an Elonmobile, still didn’t stop us getting her this.
Number plates. They say more about who you are than your DNA.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Cars, Colleagues, Craft, Culture, Customer Service, Emotion, Experience, Fake Attitude, Japan, Luxury, Marketing, Mercedes, Money, Packaging, Resonance, Respect
Over the years I’ve written a lot about brands who spend time and money ensuring their customers feel they’ve purchased something of significantly greater value than the functional cost of the item they’ve purchased.
The original ‘brand experience’ as it were.
There’s Tiffany with their iconic ‘little blue box’.
There’s Apple with their packaging and attention to detail.
Hell, there’s even Absolut with their special edition bottles – though I accept that’s more a satisfying novelty than something that builds real additional value for the brand.
But what I find interesting is for all the talk of ‘brand experience’, most brands – except those truly in the luxury space – suck at it. And that’s not counting the masses of brands who don’t even bother with it – often believing their customers should consider themselves fortunate for owning whatever it is they’ve just handed over their cash to buy.
But that aside … the problem with a lot of ‘brand experience’ is it’s starting point is the cost to do it, not the emotion they ignite because of it – so we end up with countless Temu versions of whatever it is they want to do or what they think people want to get.
Now I am not saying that these approaches don’t work or aren’t liked, but we end up in parity status very quickly – which has the result of completely nullifying whatever ‘value’ you hoped you would get from it in the first place.
The reality is experience is less about what you do and how you do it …
Not just for distinctiveness.
Not just for memorability.
But because it conveys what you value and the standards you keep.
This should be obvious as hell – but the problem is, when companies evaluate it against the cost – or time – many view it as an expense rather than an investment in their brand and customer relationship, so before you know it, they strip things back to its most basic form.
It’s why I love how Japanese brands tend to approach brand experience.
As a society, care and attention seem to be built into the DNA.
You just have to see how they package anything to realise they – if anything – over engineer brand experience.
It’s a culture that places high importance on standards, respect and consistency – which is why I like this video of someone picking up their new Lexus car.
On one level, it’s not that different to a lot of car manufacturers around the world who place a bow or blanket over a car when it’s about to be picked up, however when they do it – you know the amount of effort involved in executing is minimal, whereas this – whether part of a fixed process or not – requires commitment and time.
Is this overkill?
Yep.
Is this more culturally influenced than category?
Undoubtedly.
And is the whole thing a bit awkward?
For many, it absolutely would be.
However, the point of the Lexus example is less about what they do and more a case of showing a brand who are committed to expressing who they are and who they’re for – because where brand experience is concerned, too many companies approach this key part of the ‘sales process’ with passive energy whereas Japan is almost aggressive in ensuring its point of view in expressed in an active and engaged manner.