Big Brammo Weekend, Bigger Brammo Week Ahead

When I started Brammofan, there were days I had to scrape pretty hard to find a mention of the Brammo Enertia.

The tide has turned.

Last week, Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher returned from a fruitful European trip to appear on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.  He flew to Menlo Park, California for a visit with several Venture Capital firms on Friday.

Another happy Menlo park venture "rider" (via @adriangstewart) (Also featuring BrammoJosh aka @brammoservice)

When asked if he ever slept, Bramscher tweeted: “sleeping is for after the IPO”

On Saturday, he delivered Brammo Enertia LE #6 to Jay Leno.

Leno and Bramscher behind Enertia LE #6

And then there’s the idea, that became a reality, that has since become a “movement” that is:

www.shockingbarack.com

I wrote a bit about this on Saturday, but have learned a few points since then.  The riders will be Brammo Lead Designer Brian Wismann and CP+B Creative Director Dave Schiff.  Wismann is on twitter as @brammodesigner and Schiff is on twitter as @mrinternetshow. I hope to do a post during the week showcasing the two hardy souls. (“Hardy” because it’s October and their route goes through Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.)  Lead Engineer Aaron Bland will be on the trip as well, following the duo in the BrammoVan.

Their request for places to recharge, sleep, and eat, has been echoed by many, including the “B” in CP+B, Alex Bogusky, who wrote a stirring post on his blog: Is there enough electricity and kindness to reach the White House?

Hillary Lake, a reporter with NBC News in Medford did a piece about the trip:

And if you happen to be in or near Ann Arbor, Michigan tomorrow, the riders will be stopping by Zingerman’s Deli (422 Detroit Street) and will be handing out some free muffins  (to the first lucky few) at 10:00 am.

One last thing, if you haven’t gotten your Brammo fix yet, it appears quite likely that Best Buy stores in Los Angeles and San Francisco will be selling them beginning this week.

Enertia on floor for 30 seconds for a photo op, and it captures the attention of genuine Biker dude

Geek Squad bays now have pneumatic lifts for Enertia Service

Brammo Enertia laptop diagnostics turn lift into mini-dyno enabling real time analysis of key functions.

Alex, I’ll take “Commodification of Creativity” for a Thousand

It’s the downfall of Western Civilization as we know it: Joe Wilson shouting “You lie!” at the President, Kanye West taking the microphone from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards, and of course the horror of watching Tom Delay shake his booty on “Dancing with the Stars.”

The latest reminder that our society is deteriorating comes from bnet.com:

5 Examples of the Commodification of Creativity That Sound a Death Knell for Art Directors

Unilever, PepsiCo, Brammo, Glaceau’s VitaminWater and Pernod-Ricard have all recently bypassed traditional ad agencies in favor of crowdsourcing or other commodified creative processes. BNET has noted before how free design software on the web appears to be putting professional creatives out of jobs. Here are five examples of the comodification [sic] of creativity that threatens the agency and design businesses:

Of course, Brammo’s recent logo design contest is given as an example:

Electric motorcycle maker Brammo recently gave out prizes of $1,000 to several amateur designers for coming up with a new company logo. (See gallery of the winning designs below.) The competition was staged by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, whose boss Alex Bogusky has previously mused about the death of professional creativity.

Here’s an idea: quit yer bellyachin’ and EVOLVE.

Brammofan loves the creatives, but grows weary of whiners.

On a side note: that opening paragraph of bnet’s groups Brammo with some mighty big players.  That is at least one redeeming quality of the article.

Brammo / Bogusky awards fourth design

Although the first three winners of the design/logo competition for the Brammo logo were awarded when I was out of town, Plugbike covered it commendably.  As he indicated, two designs had been chosen as possible logos, and a third design was chosen as a likely design for t-shirts and such.

This was noted as CEO Craig Bramscher's favorite.

This design was Alex Bogusky's favorite.

The favorite for t-shirt use.

Yesterday evening, a fourth design was chosen and awarded $1,000.00.

Third winner.

Which one of the logo designs is your favorite?

Brammo and CP+B Logo Contest Kerfuffle

Logo Contest? Say what?

Oh, you haven’t heard about the Brammo logo contest that ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) announced and facilitated on crowdsourcing site Crowdspring.com for a shot at $1,000.00?  The winning “designer” (I’ll explain why it’s in quotes, later) will be chosen by Alex Bogusky with input from Craig Bramscher, CEO of Brammo.  Or maybe it’s the other way around.  Basically, if you’re not familiar with the names, the companies or “crowdsourcing,” then you’ve probably found my site by searching for pictures of Debbie Harry (the best one is here) and should just download it and keep moving.

I’m hip to the contest. What’s a “kerfuffle”?

Do I have to do everything? Look it up. Or, if you’re wondering how it’s supposed to sound, you can click here, repeatedly, and the nice lady will say it over and over again.  If you want, you can imagine that it’s being enunciated by Ms. Harry.

In relation to the Brammo logo, the kerfuffle is about the issue of “crowdsourcing” and how the design community is up in arms about CP+B using a cheap trick like this contest to destroy the integrity of creative people all over the world.  You see, many of these people have jobs with agencies whose bottom line depends on having clients come to them to design their logos.  These people equate crowdsourcing, especially when it is underwritten by a competing advertising agency, to the type of despicable behavior one might expect from a traitorous person of questionable parentage.  They claim that an ethical lapse has occurred which cheapens their professional standing, minimizes the effort involved with proper logo creation (a term they actually call “branding,” not to be confused with the act of a red hot iron with a design on it being applied to the hind end of a bovine . . . actually, it bears a striking resemblance to that), and threatens the very foundation of their industry (which they prefer to be called a “profession,” kind of like “sex workers” prefer to be called members of the “world’s oldest profession.”)

Just in case you think I have a prejudice against “creatives” or “designers,” I want to clarify that I do not.  Some readers of this blog are aware of my close and dare I say it, loving (in a platonic way, of course) relationship with the CP+B interns whose services were won by Brammo in an Ebay auction last Spring.  They were a hard-working group and their talent was easy to see while working on the Enertia campaign.  They, however, would be the first to tell you that Brammofan can be one critical person of questionable parentage. The take-away is that I call them as I see them.  Which brings me to the issue of designers vs. “designers.”

The difference between designers and “designers” is that the first one works with an agency and the second one doesn’t.  The first one doesn’t enter crowdsourcing logo contests and the second one does.  The first one researches branding issues and the second one has a PC and a copy of PhotoShop (probably pirated).  The first one attends client consultations and will tweak the minute details of their design over the course of weeks, and the second one slaps something together in a couple hours.

Okay, so the designers think that “designers” should stop contributing to the downfall of the industry.
Here’s the original article.  (See also, FastCompany‘s take on this and BNet’s.) They even went so far as to design a logo memorializing this event:

(It’s small because I’m trying to be G-rated)

But here’s the deal: you get what you pay for.  Someone who’s going to pay a couple hundred bucks for a logo on crowdspring.com is not going to shell out the thousands or millions to CP+B for a new logo for their product.

There are a couple reasons why Brammo and CP+B are in the midst of this kerfuffle.  One is that the designers feel betrayed by Bogusky encouraging “spec” work, which is another term for uncompensated work performed by “designers” for the admittedly slim chance of being chosen as the winner.  Sounds a bit like gambling, right?

The other big reason for this conflict is that the designers have tunnel vision.

The designers see the Brammo CP+B logo contest as being only about design and crowdsourcing and the cheapening of their profession.  What so many of them fail to see, even as they contribute to it by the gnashing of their own teeth, is the public relations value of the contest.  And what created even more PR value than the contest?  The kerfuffle.  This.  Right now.  Even as I type these very words and you read them and immediately forget them and feel compelled to comment, or tweet, or email your friends to come and read the ravings of this Brammofan idiot, the folks at CP+B, and Brammo, and probably Weber-Shandwick and Best Buy (to the extent they bother reading my rants), are counting the number of times I’ve mentioned the words Brammo, Enertia, CP+B, Best Buy, and wondering what the next outrageous idea from Bogusky might be. (May I suggest, on spec of course, a Subservient Brammo – Geek Squad site, complete with a guy in a Geek Squad uniform, wearing a Bull head, in a messy garage, with a Brammo Enertia, responding to typed-in requests?)

With that, I sign off this post with the news that, according to the Crowdspring.com site, the logo contest winner should be announced any moment now.  And, for what it’s worth, this is my favorite logo submission of the more than 700 submitted:

“Hey girl, jump on my Enertia and I’ll give you a ride…”

I’m going to miss these interns.  Featuring Interns Mike ( @MikeAngelo305) and Zach (@MonicaLegitsky) Check out the line referenced in the title at 2:17.  The highlight, though, begins just past 3:00:

“I’m on my Brammo and you know I’m straight cruisin’, this is how we (roll?) so please don’t confuse it, drivin’ on the highway and I’m skippin’ past the next guy,”

“Where’d you get your bike?”

“Yo, I bought it at Best Buy.”

Brammofan approves.

UPDATE:  I wonder how you figure out when something goes “viral”? As of this afternoon, about 24 hours after the interns originally posted the video, it’s had 24,000+ views on YouTube.  It’s been commented on by AdFreak.com, Huffington Post, and now, the Wall Street Journal, which writes:

The interns’ work is nearly complete and Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher will fly to Boulder, Colo., next week to take a look at what happens when you turn loose 38 highly-creative, social media-savvy, rising stars in advertising on a product branding

The Wall Street Journal also reported this not-too-surprising news:

The company has been pleased enough with the work that they’ve decided to engage with Crispin Porter + Bogusky at a higher level.