The Rarely Updated Blog of Nate Warner

Say what you may about corporate identities. Some companies swear by them, and other pundits wonder why business waste so much time and energy on them.

Be that as it may, an icon of American branding, the AT&T sphere will be dead by 2006.

SBC is acquiring AT@T, adopting its name and losing its logo.

Being too young to remember the Ma Bell monopoly, the AT@T merger doesn’t resonate especially strong with me, but it is always sad to see such time tested product of design get pushed to the wayside.

For the whole story, including some Ma Bell Monopoly and AT&T history, head here.

I ran across this article on macnewsworld.com.

The hubbub over a new Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) ad that looks a lot like an earlier spot for Lugz boots just got louder.

Avrett Free Ginsberg — the agency that created the Lugz spot along with animation house Psyop — called on Apple chief Steve Jobs to investigate after arguing that the resemblance is too close to be a coincidence.

Read the article, then watch the commercials:

Lugz Arrow

iPod Detroit

After watching the two ad’s I understand the the Lugz and Avrett Free Ginsberg representatives that are upset about the similarities between the two ads. None the less I have to side with Apple on this one. They have been rocking the silhouette ads for years as well as transitioning from a pure silhouette rocker to a more 3D character that retains some of the shading of the original actor. Definately a continuation of a campaign rather than a copy of Lugz work.

And lets not forget that Apple is a marketing god- they don’t need to steal concepts from shoe company.

Lugz should just ride the wave of controversy and thank Apple for the free publicity.

Interesting side note: Apple paid Eminem an estimated $10 million for unauthorized use of “Lose Yourself” in an earlier iPod spot. Its a bit of a weird twist that they used the same song again, this time with Eminem’s blessing. article

Many of you might remember my post about the Black Lantern remix of the Kanye West’s song Gold Digger, entitled “George Bush Don’t Like Black People”

Quick Recap:

Jib Jab used the Woody Guthrie song “This Land” in their Flash parody of the Presidential Election. Ludlow Music who owns the right to “This Land” sued Jib Jab for unauthorized use, eventually loosing to a 1st amendment defense by Jib Jab.

Now Jib Jab is suing The Black Lantern for unauthorized use of 9 non-contiguous seconds of the Jib Jab Flash Animation “This Land” in the video for “George Bush Don’t Care About Black People”

And I thought sandal season was almost over.

The whole story can be found here:

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

This movie was linked on Veerle’s Blog. I have no idea who or why they made it, but it kind of creeps me out and amazes me at the same time.

Enjoy!