"Memo Pad: Kenneth Cole 24/7Showgoers were thinking about more than just fall trends during New York Fashion Week, thanks to the always provocative Kenneth Cole. According to surveys Cole took at the Bryant Park tents last week, 43 percent of the fashion set thinks model weight should be regulated (another 26 percent said the idea makes them want to throw up), and almost half said they don't care what week New York holds its shows, "as long as I get a front row seat" (the other half were almost equally divided between the first and second weeks of February and September). And who do fashionistas think America is most inclined to accept as its next president? Twenty-eight percent said a woman, 36 percent said an African-American, 10 percent said Oprah Winfrey and 26 percent said "a Caucasian billionaire mayor." The full results of the survey will appear on Cole's social awareness blog, alternately kennethcoleblog.com and awarenessblog.com, which launches Monday. "It's an idea that has been 25 years in the making," said the designer of the blog.
Of course, when Cole started his eponymous line a quarter century ago, computers were still a novel concept and there was no such thing as a blog, but he has always dedicated himself to stirring dialogue about issues of public concern — a cause he hopes the blog will further. The Web site won't be a destination for musings on heel height or hem length, but rather on social rights (illustrated with a gay rights flag), hard times (homelessness and poverty), the political landscape (namely war) and well-being (prominently AIDS and HIV). Fashion fans need not feel totally isolated: Cole will file a weekly column under "Clothes Mindedness." Cole is also enlisting famous friends — including Natasha Richardson, Alan Cumming and Mario Cantone — to blog about social issues that are important to them. "There are all these people out there looking for an opportunity to express their personal passions, and they are often absent of a platform," Cole said. "As a designer, I create content. This creates context."
— Whitney Beckett"
Being that articles about the Kenneth Cole blog project that we've been quietly working on for over nine months are starting to break in the media today (a week early), I thought I would quickly comment on the project now, and then write a more detailed post later.
Since the middle of last yea, myself and my colleagues have been working with Kenneth Cole on developing an issues orientated website, Awearnessblog.com, that will officially launch on Monday. It's a project that personally feel very passionate about.
In addition to weekly commentary from Kenneth himself, each workday the site will showcase up-to-the-minute commentary from a range of prominent voices in media, arts, entertainment, business, and philanthropic organizations. Contributors include singer KT Tunstall, Paper Magazine founder David Hershkovits, and Good Magazine founder Ben Goldhirsh. Some of Kenneth Cole’s celebrity friends including NY Giants Michael Strahan, Alan Cumming, Stanley Tucci, Alan Dershovitz, and Joey Pantoliano will also be contributing about the social causes they are actively involved with.
As you will see on Monday, the blog is centered around four core topics of interest: Social Rights, Hard Times (poverty & homelessness), Political Landscape, and Well-being (health & the environment). Readers are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas on how we as a society can work to create a better world.
Crazy day today so more on the blog soon. But in the meantime, check out what Crains New York had to say about it here, and what The New York Post wrote here.
If so, then electircArtists latest blog, Paranormal Insider, is for you.
Produced in association with A&E Network to support the upcoming series, Paranormal State, starting today every workday the blog will showcase stories from a host of leading writers and authorities from the world of the paranormal. Writers such as Ellen Guiley, who has written over thirty-one novels about the paranormal and Michelle Belanger who has appeared on several television networks and writes about psychic phenomena, will be contributing stories of unexplained phenomena, otherworldly encounters and the history & folklore of supernatural events.
In addition, the blog will provide regular updates about the upcoming A&E TV show “Paranormal State” starting in early December.
Today the blog launches with stories about a top-secret Psychotechnology Research Institute, the NYC Horror Film Festival and the Ghost Club of London.
If you have a tale of the supernatural that you’d like to share on the site, send an email to: behindyou@paranormalinsider.com
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
"Launch days" are always filled with a strange mix of excitement, joy, relief, exhaustion, and - sometimes - a little bit of last minute panic.
But in the end, as that project that you've worked on for many months goes from being seen only by a small group of people to finally, the general public, the satisfaction that you feel as a team makes it all worthwhile.
My favorite days at electricArtists are launch days.
Today, I'm pleased and excited to announce the launch of the 2007 "Chicagoland Initiative" of the American Express Partners in Preservation program.
Starting today, residents of the Chicagoland community are invited to go to PartnersInPreservation.com where their votes will help determine how American Express distributes a grant of $1 million to help preserve and protect local historic landmarks in and around Chicago.
On the Partners In Preservation site you can learn more about Chicago’s most meaningful local locations, and also contribute your own stories, remembrances, and photos of those locations. By voting on the site, it will be the Chicago community that ultimately chooses the winning historic site from a list of contenders.
When we helped launch the Partners in Preservation program last year, it immediately became one of my favorite projects in the ten year history of electricArtists. For me, Partners In Preservation is extremely significant in that it signals an important shift in how large corporations are using the web and technology.
With projects like Partners In Preservation and Members Project from American Express, and Ideastorm from Dell Computers, we are starting to see how large corporations are now involving their customers and democratizing their decision making, while at the same time, using technology to engage the broader community of customers and prospects in a fun and interactive way.
If you're not yet familiar with the Partners in Preservation program, I encourage all of you to head over to www.partnersinpreservation.com and check it out.
Be sure to let me know what you think.
When you hear Sue Brush talk about Westin Hotels, it's impossible not to be inspired. She's one of those people who's enthusiasm is absolutely infectious.
Responsible for charting the direction of the Westin brand, Sue's been a part of Westin for over 25 years. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting her, then you know that Sue truly embodies what Westin is all about.
Late last year, my colleagues and I at Electric Artists were briefed by Sue and her team on a new initiative, The Westin Renewal Council, a panel of six lifestyle gurus who on an ongoing basis will advise Westin on new initiatives centered around the brand's positioning of "personal renewal".
Tomorrow, Westin will officially announce the formation of the Westin Renewal Council as well as FindRenewal.com, a new interactive website that for the first time brings together into
one place a terrific collection of advice, tips, and daily reminders on
personal renewal from an esteemed group of experts that include trainer
to the stars David Kirsch, psychologist Dr. Dale Atkins, and TV’s
home-makeover expert Vern Yip.
For over six months, my team at ElectricArtists have been working closely with the Westin brand team at Starwood Hotels on developing FindRenewal.com. It's a project that we're all extremely excited about and proud to be a part of.
With Find Renewal, our goal is to have the Westin brand connect with its customers even when they may not thinking about traveling. To stay connected, we've developed a handy downloadable widget that by placing it on your desktop or personal web page you can receive daily tips and reminders on personal renewal 365 days of the year.
The site officially launches tomorrow so when you have a moment, check it out, and let us know what you think.
Congratulations to Howie, Terry and the entire ElectricArtists' marketing team, as late yesterday we formally announced our partnership with USA Network for digital marketing services across seven USA projects this year including:
THE STARTER WIFE, Monk, Psych, The Dead Zone, The 4400 and USA's newest series Burn Notice .
USA Network joins a growing list of clients in the cable and broadcast sector which also includes A&E, The History Channel, and Starz.
Of the various creative tools that the team has created for the new USA shows is a take on the old "eye spy" game that we all played as kids. Like the best casual games on the web, it's easy, quick and highly addictive.
Check out the psych game here and a similar one for Monk here.
The full USA / ElectricArtists press release after the jump...
