| What is in a brand? If you ask Poul Bay, owner and operator of The John Doe Experience, "everything and nothing."
Teetering on a Zen approach to branding, The John Doe Experience embraces all that is outside of consumer convention. As the latest enterprise to open its doors on the trendy 17th Avenue S.W. catwalk, the business gives its clientele the ability to impose a distinct image on a custom snowboard, T-shirt, sweatshirt, bumper sticker– you name it, it can be done. You can buy a top-of-the-line board and create a groovy graphic of your own.
The John Doe Experience opened last summer, and was born from the concept that people want a unique identifier. The prominence of and our overexposure to the corporate brand is now stale. Instead of a "swoosh" on your sweatshirt, you can create your own image or use original artwork from an online artists bank. Whether we see this as a backlash against the advertising and image-making conglomerates of the world or simply as creative expression, it’s based on our attraction to the unique.
"The concept is quite new and with the technology now available, this is a perfect time to set up shop," says Bay, who first caught onto this idea more than a year ago. "I was talking with a friend in the snowboard manufacturing business... and it seemed natural that if you have a tattoo that is unique to you, then you would want to transfer that image or that concept to other areas of your life," he explains.
Even empires built on brand recognition have attempted to embrace the idea of the "self-identifier." In 2000, Nike launched the personalized "iD" shoe. Offered online, the "iD" shoe allowed customers to personalize their runners – instead of the Nike logo, you could have a name or a nickname adorned on your sneakers. Nike did not expect the cheeky ambitions of Jonah Peretti, who in January 2001 took Nike up on its offer and requested the word "sweatshop" be inscribed on his runners. Obviously, Nike did not share Peretti's sentiment for irony or politics, and thus refused the request.
Andy Warhol gave us Campbell Soup Cans; Perretti gave us the Nike Sweatshop Shoe. Brands and logos are now perceived as public domain – after all, we wear them on our bodies. The appropriation of the corporate brand or logo obviously threatens the conventional marketing machines. When the Nike "swoosh" is no longer cool and the label on your jeans means nothing, the marketing gurus may get nervous.
"The kids that are buying snowboards are tired of the same old brand and logo – they want something cool and new," says Bay.
It’s a smart and savvy consumer that is aware of the subculture that exists in the anti-brand camp. Our sensibilities are rebelling against the corporate "in" and shifting to a self-indulgent cool – one that we hope we can laugh at.
You can check out The John Doe Experience online at www.thejohndoeexperience.com or visit them in person at 720, 17th Avenue S.W. |
