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This blog has been dead for some time, but there is good news. You still find me on tumblr at giraffeLookout.tumblr.com.

Ben and Slayde get married

Our friends Ben and Slayde are getting married and our mutual friend has brewed up four different beers for the occasion. As if that weren't enough to be excited about, Ben designed these great labels for the beers. Each one depicts Ben and Slayde in a place that they've spend a considerable amount of time in and what they remember about that place most.

First up is the Oregon Hipster IPA. Yup, "I liked            before it was cool" sounds about right.  

Then we have the Virigina Road Rage Altbier. Anyone that has spent anytime in or around Fairfax County in the past 15 years knows what this is all about.

The DC Impossibly Expensive Dubbel. Ben and Slayde live out in Vienna and commute each morning to Georgetown. Enough said.

Last but not least is the Alaska Biting Insect Amber. I've never been to Alaska so I'll have to take their word for it.

What these lack in commercial appeal, they make up for in taste. Trust me.

Friday in the Harris Teeter

I just got our of the grocery and snapped a couple of iPhone photos. 

I was going to pick up a 6 pack of Spaten but I noticed the price went up by a dollar (it's been $6.99 for like at least a year.) Anyways, the geniuses in the marketing department wanted to raise the price but make it look like they were lowering it so they did this. Good thing I'm so stingy. Otherwise, I might have fallen for it. 

Then there was this. I'm having a hard time figuring out how the good folks at Kraft figured out that people want to buy frozen pizza and frozen cookies in the same box. I guess people like doughy baked things. Maybe when the two are packaged together people feel less guilty about eating frozen pizza and then moving right onto cookies. These people also brought you the Marlboro Red. Just sayin'

Wutang x Rocksmith Collab

These are obviously strong hats. The giants style typeface is sweet. Giants fans will grab the blue on red. I like the blue on grey the best. The clincher is the merchandising though. These hats are so fresh they came over from the sweatshop packed on ice.

via Hypebeast

Shwood

Shwood

This is the kind of brand that I'd normally be really guarded about. I got a pair of sunglasses made of rosewood for my birthday last year and I get my fair share of compliments on them. Even when people don't say anything, I can tell they notice those shades. Not the type of thing you want the average DC prepster to catch onto. Anyways, I ended up breaking my pair last spring and the guys at Shwood were so cool about fixing them for me that I have to give them some love on the blog. Also, they have great marketing so I shouldn't try and keep them a secret (not that it's up to me anyways.)

This is a cool video, they started to build a tree fort out near Mt. Hood and they provide you with the coordinates so if you feel up for it, you can go hand out there and add on to it. 

Experiment No. 2 - Backcountry Nest from Shwood Eyewear on Vimeo.

Patagonia Common Threads Initiative

I don't typically ride for Patagonia because I think most their clothing is over branded. I guess people that spend a lot of money on sweats like to have lots of labels. Snarkiness aside, they do have some corporate initiative when it comes to corporate responsibility. One thing I'm excited about, from a marketing perspective, is their Common Threads Initiative.

Basically, Patagonia helping people sell, and buy, old Patagonia gear on Ebay. They think it will reduce waste, which may be true. What I find intriguing is that Patagonia is making a bold statement about the quality of the gear. If it's good enough to be sold second-hand, it's probably pretty good stuff, (especially new.) The funny thing is that you might that it would hurt sales of new products but I actually really doubt it. I think people that buy new and used Patagonia stuff come from two totally different market segments. Anyways, I'll definitely have a look.

Red Wing shows off its Workhorse

This is the kind of the new old thing. When you make things the old-fashioned way with care and precision, you tend to have some special machinery. Showing off your connection with the machinery is a convincing way to show that you are for real with this. It's also just a great way to talk about how much you care without actually talking about yourselves.

Self Edge just made kind of a deal of the fact that they finally tracked down a chainstitcher that they'd been trying to track down for years. It's pretty cool.

Red Wing is a little bit beyond that though. They've got a fleet of classics that they've used for years. They also just made a great video about it, The Puritan Stitch Machines. It's a nice and sincere video about what the machine can do. The narrator is totally a guy from the floor and you can easily tell that this is no bullshit. I mean I already wanted a pair of Red Wings so maybe they are preaching to the choir but I hope this video inspires some other consumers.